Lost Data
by Eternalangel15
Summary: Finding himself alone without his Buddy Appmon and friends in an unfamiliar place was one thing Haru had not expected when he woke up. Now he is looking for a way home, but with gaps in his memories and an evil AI after him, it seems like it will be more difficult than he had thought to find his way home.
1. Chapter 1

**This story is being written for a bit of fun. This idea has been on my mind for a few weeks already and I just couldn't resist writing. I'll try to update regularly when I can, but keep in mind Gravity Rises is my main fanfic I'm writing now. Though this fanfic might take most of my time now too. Now why am I writing this fanfic? Because Haru is a sweet cinnamon roll and I just could not resist causing angst to him. And what better way than to do that than to write a fanfic exposing him as a character without his friends and Gatchmon by his side. Haha I'm evil, but don't worry. This fanfic will have a happy ending (or will it). This is my first time writing a fanfic for Digimon, so please bare with me. I'm not the best writer, but I like to think I can try at least.**

* * *

 **Chapter One**

Even before Haru's body was literally becoming destabilized from the white tentacle that was wrapped around his ankle, he was not exactly having a good day.

He woke up in a dark alley with his appli device clenched in his right hand having no idea where he was. Weird posters were pasted onto the walls while oddly shaped bulbs of light were his only source of light. Haru blinked at the lights and sat up rubbing his eyes. He tried to think of anything that could help explain where he was. Knowing that wasn't going to help, he turned to ask Gatchmon to do a search when he finally noticed it: he was completely alone.

There was no sign of his friends. There was no sign of the pink-tailed idol nor her blue overprotective Appmon. There was no sign of the easygoing apptuder nor his highly spirited musical Appmon. And worse of all, there was no sign of Gatchmon. His buddy that had always been by his side ever since Haru had met him. This realization only left a sinking feeling in Haru's gut.

That was when he noticed it too, his appli drive. Last he remembered, it was bright red and blue that displayed the words on the screen, 'PAIRING GATCHMON' with a small blue magnifying glass on the top. Now it was fully gray and black. The same way it had been devoid of life before he had met Gatchmon.

Haru shakily placed his appli device down on the ground and looked at his wristband. It too was gray and black. Still, Haru wanted to make sure it worked. He turned it on hoping that it would allow him to make contact with Eri or Astra only to hear static noise coming from it. It was no use. He was completely and utterly alone in an unfamiliar place.

Haru wanted to cry. Although he had grown tremendously ever since Gatchmon had come into his life, he could not change the fact how emotional he was. Haru always expressed his feelings openly. It was something part of himself that he could not change no matter how hard he tried. But now, Haru could not help but wish that part of himself would disappear. He did not want to cry because it would mean exploiting himself. He did not want to open up his feelings in a place he did not recognize. Especially if an unfamiliar person saw him.

That was why instead, Haru tried to turn his thoughts to what he was doing before he had woke up in the dark alley. All he could remember was him, Eri, and Astra along with their appmon heading to the Waffle OS Data on the surface web to stop the virusmon. After that, everything was blank. There was nothing else on his mind that could help explain how he got there in the alley.

Sighing in defeat, Haru turned back to his appli device and picked it up. He wanted nothing more than to just be back at home with Gatchmon and his friends. Being alone in the dark alley he was sitting in only made his heart quickened in beats. He was afraid. That he could no longer hide from himself. Haru was afraid what being alone in an unknown place meant. Especially if it was dangerous. Haru was afraid of facing that danger alone.

And yet despite that, Haru knew he could not let fear keep him rooted on the cold ground. Gatchmon helped him realized that months ago. That was why Haru picked himself up and took a few steps towards the end of the alley. Even if he was afraid, he had to try. At least so that he could find his friends and Gatchmon.

Once Haru made it out of the dark alley into the blaring light, he was met with an even more unfamiliar sight. All around him were shining billboards with glowing symbols on them. Beneath some of the billboards were shops and booths selling odd products. Walking around the shops and booths were small hooded creatures wearing different styles of white masks. Haru stared at the creatures trying to think of an explanation of what they could be. He could not recognize them, but they seemed oddly familiar to him.

"Pshh, is that a human?" Haru heard a voice near him whisper.

"What is a human doing here?" Another voice whispered.

Haru blinked as he watched all the creatures moved their attention away from the shops and booths and onto him. They began to walk to Haru and circle around him until Haru was completely surrounded by the creatures. At first, Haru was fine with the amount of attention he was getting until he felt his whole body began to shiver from the atmosphere. The creatures around him were not peaceful or nice as he had thought. They were bad and were especially hostile towards him.

"It's a human!" One of the creatures hissed with hate.

"Lets kill it!" Another creature hissed taking out a large knife.

"Yes, let's do that!" Many of the creatures added nodding and agreeing with one another.

They began to take a few steps towards Haru itching closer and closer to him ready to pounce on him. Of course, seeing what they were trying to do, Haru tried to back farther and farther away from the creatures. It was not until his back made contact with the wall did he realize how much in danger he was in. There were creatures all around him ready to kill him and he could not do anything. He was powerless. His appli device was no longer working. His friends were not there with him. And worst of all, Gatchmon was not by his side. He was alone and he was about to die.

"Die human!" Haru heard one of the creatures say as he watched it jumped with the knife aimed towards his stomach. Seeing that there was nothing he could do to stop it, Haru squeezed his eyelids shut placing his clenched hands over his eyes. He rather not see the knife sticking into his stomach and blood coming out of it. It was a sight he did not want to see.

Haru waited for the pain to come, but it never did. Instead, all he could hear was a static sound followed by gasps full of surprise and fear coming from the creatures. He then decided to open his eyes and see why he was still alive. What he did not expect was to see the creatures backing away from him shaking in fear.

"Minerva!" One of the creatures shakily said pointing at Haru.

Haru blinked confused. Who was Minerva? Why did it feel like the name so familiar to him? He glanced down at the ground trying to think of why he knew the name when he noticed that his wristband was glowing. He looked at it seeing that while it was still grey, on the screen was a symbol of a blue owl. He stared at the owl as if it carried all his answers to the questions he had been asking. He knew the glowing blue symbol. But how? Why did he know it?

"Run! It's Minerva!" One of the creatures yelled out. Haru looked up from his wristband to see all the creatures screaming in fear and taking off away from him. They all ran different directions until no one was left in the small alleyway except for Haru and his glowing wristband.

" _Shinkai Haru_..." Haru heard a female voice called out. He widened his eyes at his name being called out and began to look around looking for the person who called his name out. He knew that voice. But how?

" _Haru_..."

Haru froze and looked down at his wristband. The blue owl was gazing back at him with intensity. Haru stared at it now knowing where the source of the voice came from. The voice came from this wristband. And judging by what the creatures were calling the owl, it must be Minerva.

"H-how do you know me?" Questioned Haru bringing the wristband closer to his face. "I-I don't know you."

Haru only heard static from his wristband. He waited for an answer for what seemed like hours, but Minerva said nothing. Haru sighed with defeat and got ready to turn his wristband off. Just as he was about to though, Minerva's voice could be heard again.

" _All will be answered soon. For now, do not let the Appmon that reside here catch you_."

Haru stared at the blue owl confused. "Appmon? You mean those were Appmon?!" He asked thinking back to those creatures that were wearing the black hooded cloaks and hoods.

" _Yes_ ," Minerva said. " _They are Appmon. But they are not good Appmon. They work for Leviathan_."

"Leviathan..." Haru whispered to himself tasting what the sound of the name felt like in his mouth. He knew the name. Like Minerva's name, he knew the name of Leviathan. But why couldn't he remember from where. Who was Leviathan?

As if Minerva heard him, she answered his question. _"Leviathan is an artificial intelligence like me_."

Haru nodded, but with even more questions appearing in his mind. "Where is here exactly?" He asked.

" _You are in the Deep Web in a place called Cyber Kowloon. Haru, you must f-f-find s-bbzzttt_..."

Haru stared at the owl as it began to glitch. "No, wait!" He called out hoping that Minerva's voice will stay, but it was not good. The blue owl continued to glitch and faze out until it completely disappeared leaving only a blank screen on the wristband. Haru stared at the screen for what seemed like forever until he finally put his arm down to his side.

He felt helpless. Although Minerva did answer a few questions, it was not enough. Haru had no idea why he was here nor why he was alone. And the fact that there was holes in his memories that should be there only made the situation worse to Haru. He knew Minerva and Leviathan. And yet, he did not. Why was that though?

"Hey, why are you just standing there Human?!"

Haru felt himself flinch and turned away from his thoughts to where the sound of the voice came from. Standing in front of him was an Appmon wearing a black hooded cloak and a white mask. Although Haru could not see the Appmon's face, he could tell the Appmon was not happy.

"I said why are you just standing there Human?" The Appmon called out again, but this time with an angrier tone. Haru shuddered at the tone and took a few steps back. Minerva said to stay away from the Appmon that lived in this place. And judging by how angry the Appmon was, Haru was definitely going to listen to Minerva's advice.

Of course, that was what Haru wanted to do, but the Appmon had other plans. In a flash, the Appmon took a leap to Haru and pushed him onto the ground. The Appmon stood on Haru's chest with his hand outstretched to Haru's neck ready to end him. Haru fearfully stared at the hand and then back at the Appmon's mask. He definitely should have ran when he had the chance.

Seeing that he now has Haru's attention, the Appmon chuckled gleefully. "Now human!" The Appmon said in a commanding tone. "Why are you here?!"

Haru squeezed his eyelids tight thinking of a response. If he told the Appmon that he did not know why, he'll probably kill him. But if he told a lie, the Appmon might know and kill him. Either way, things were not looking good for Haru.

"Answer me!" The Appmon yelled with a tone that clearly said that if Haru did not answer his tone, it would be over for him.

Realizing this, Haru decided to answer with his gut.

"I don't know!" He shakily said. "I woke up here and I don't know how I got here!"

Haru waited for the inevitable, but to his surprise, nothing came. He opened his eyelids to see the Appmon only staring at him. And even more to his surprise, the Appmon took his hand away from Haru's neck. It was not what Haru expected the Appmon to do.

"I-I thought..." Haru began to say, but the Appmon interrupted him.

"Don't get the wrong idea. I don't trust you. Leviathan said not to trust any humans. That they are dangerous creatures that should be disposed of."

"Then why are you-" Haru began to say, and yet again, the Appmon interrupted him.

"Because you're different... You're just clearly weak."

Haru clenched his teeth. He did not like where this situation was going. "Who are you?" He asked.

The Appmon paused for a second and did the third most surprising thing since they met. The Appmon took his mask off, so that Haru could look at his face. The Appmon had a face that resembled that of a feline with bright blue eyes. It wore a silver helmet with a blue symbol in it. For some reason, the Appmon greatly reminded Haru of Gatchmon. However, what the Appmon said only made Haru more fearful of him.

"My name is Onmon and I'm going to take you to Leviathan."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again. This is a really fast update. Reason why is because I have a lot of free time in my hands right now due to finally finishing and passing a major test yesterday for a certification. I'm really excited about passing, so that gave me all the motivation I needed to finish this chapter fast. I hope you guys enjoy. And don't be afraid to review and ask questions. I'll answer everything the best I can just as long as it doesn't not involve major plot points in the future chapters. Thanks for reading!**

 **(Oh and expect a chapter update for Gravity Rises this weekend. I'm going to try my hardest to finish writing it even though it's continuously dragging me down.)**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

Standing with the Appmon that wanted to take him to Leviathan in a small closed tight elevator was one thing Haru did not see him doing. After all, Minerva had told him to stay away from all the Appmon that live in Cyber Kowloon and Leviathan. And yet here he was with an Appmon that was taking him on a one way trip to Leviathan. Haru was pretty sure that if Minerva could see him right now, she would be highly disappointed in him.

Haru widened his eyes at that thought. Wait, why would Minerva would be disappointed in him? He barely knew the artificial intelligence that spoke to him let alone understand why she contacted him. And yet, somewhere in his heart, Haru recognized her. But why was he so conflicted about this?

"What is your name Human?"

Haru blinked out of his thoughts and turned to Onmon who was looking straight ahead with his mask back on. Since meeting Onmon, Haru had gradually became slightly more comfortable with him. Sure, Onmon treated him badly, pushed him to the ground, threatened his life, and now was taking him to the AI he was suppose to stay away from and yet, for some reason he couldn't understand, Haru trusted the feline-like Appmon. He reminded him so much of Gatchmon. Because of that, Haru was sure that somewhere inside, Onmon was good. He did not look like an evil Appmon and Haru was pretty sure Onmon was not infected by the L virus to cause him to act like the way he was acting.

"Well?!" Onmon commanded turning to Haru pointing a claw at him. Haru immediately flinched at this notion. He was beginning to tell that Onmon did not like it whenever Haru did not answer his questions quickly.

So in a shaky voice. Haru answered Onmon. "M-my name is Shinkai Haru..."

"Shinkai Haru..." Onmon muttered himself quietly putting his hand down and turning away from Haru. "What an odd name..."

Haru blinked confused at Onmon's comment. "Why do you say that?" He hesitantly asked.

"It's a name that's not quite fitting for a human of your character." Onmon begrudgingly answered.

Haru tilted his head confused. "Why do you dislike humans? I-I mean..."

Haru stopped speaking when Onmon looked back at him. He looked back to Haru almost as if he was giving an irritated look at him, but since Onmon was wearing the mask, Haru could not tell.

"Leviathan advised us how despicable humans are. They are not to be trusted. They are evil creatures that could delete us if they wanted to."

Haru listened confused. As far as he knew, he was not evil and very trusting to his friends. Eri and Astra were the same way, and he had only just met them months ago. It was obvious Leviathan had lied to Onmon.

"Leviathan is wrong." Haru said this time with no hesitance and with more confidence in his voice. "I'm not like that. I'm sure someone like you can tell that as clear as day."

Hearing this, Onmon growled under his breath and and took a step forward to Haru. "Oh really? And why do you think that? Leviathan is our savior. He cannot be wrong."

Haru opened his mouth to retort that Leviathan was not who Onmon thought it was, but stopped. How did he know that? Haru placed a hand on his head trying to think back to how he knew that information, but nothing came. Something was missing from his head. He did not know what though.

Seeing that Haru was not answering, Onmon turned back to the door. "Listen well Shinkai Haru. Once we arrive to Leviathan, I'll make sure to watch your deletion. One less human in this world will make it a better place."

Haru said nothing to Onmon's response. He was dreading now to see Leviathan. He did not personally know the AI as far as he knew and yet, for some reason, he felt like he already had. One thing he absolutely knew though was that he could not see Leviathan, or something bad will happen. It was a feeling that was beginning to worsen with each sound the elevator made as it descended closer to the level Onmon had pressed on the buttons.

It was when the elevator came to a stop and the door opened did Haru finally realize he had to move away from Onmon. He may be without his Appmon and his friends, but Haru knew he could get by. He was an Appli Driver after all.

So without even thinking, Haru pushed Onmon aside and dashed out of the elevator into the closest path that was near the elevator. He did not pay attention to where he ran to, less know where he was running to. What only mattered to him was getting away from Onmon and Leviathan. As Haru ran into different passageways, he tried his best to ignore how fast his heart was beating. He tried his best to ignore the angry Appmon that was yelling at him from not too far away. He tried his best to ignore how scared he was of what the Appmon would do once he found him. And most of all, Haru tried his best to ignore how lonely he felt. He hadn't realize how much he needed his friends and Gatchmon badly. It was hard to continue forward without them backing him up.

It seemed like hours until Haru decided to stop at a corner of an alley no longer hearing the Appmon behind him. His lungs burned like fire while his throat was painfully dry from the lack of water into his system. And yet, his heart was still racing. Haru forced himself to stay upright on the wall while looking back and forth at the passageways connected to the alley he was in to see if Onmon had followed him. As he tried to calm his breathing and heart rate down while keeping watch, Haru realized something important.

Onmon was no longer following him.

Even though Haru had just met Onmon, he could tell he was a persistent Appmon. After all, he wanted to take him straight to Leviathan. He had expected for Onmon to follow him and be not too far behind. But he wasn't. That realization only made his heart drop. Something was wrong. Onmon was in danger.

Not even wasting a second to collect his breath, Haru ran back to the direction he ran from. He ran blindly in the alleys bumping into the wall in some while ignoring the looks he received from passing Appmon with one thought in mind: to find Onmon.

Once Haru made it back near the elevator, he could not help but freeze at the sight before him. Backed up against a wall was Onmon shaking while a large white creature with white tentacles stood in front of him. One of the tentacles reached out to grab Onmon and he hastily dodged it only for another tentacle to catch Onmon's leg and hold him a few feet above the ground.

As soon as the tentacle made contact with Onmon, Onmon made into a bloodcurdling scream. Haru watched as the small Appmon's body began to faze out a bit as it was becoming destabilized. It was at that point did Haru understood something. Onmon's life was in danger.

"Onmon!" Haru cried.

He quickly surveyed the area around him and found a small brown wooden box near a closed shop. He ran to the box and dug into it taking out a small piece of wood glad there was something useful in it he could use. Once he had the piece of wood clenched tightly in his hand, Haru dashed towards the white creature and without a second thought, dug the piece of wood into its skin causing the creature to make a high pitch wail from the pain and release Onmon from its tentacles. Haru tightly covered his ears from the loudness of the scream and watched as tiny bits of data began to leak from the creature's wound. He had not expected the creature to be data.

"What are you doing?! Don't just stand there! Run" Haru heard an irritated voice near him. He didn't pay no attention to it though. Besides, he couldn't run even if he wanted to. His feet were stuck to the ground due to the sight of creature that was now leering down at him.

Haru watched frozen in fear as one of the tentacles wrapped around his wrist. When the tentacle gripped his wrist tightly, Haru screamed. It burned like crazy. It felt like a thousand needles were poking into his wrist and inflaming it. He wanted to cry, but he forced himself not to. He couldn't cry. Instead, he squeezed his eyelids tight and lifted his other hand.

Haru shakily moved his hand towards the tentacle that was wrapped around his wrist when a second pain erupted from his ankle. Upon contact, Haru dropped his hand and screamed again, but this time louder and with more anguish. His ankle was now painfully hurting like his wrist. He wasn't sure what exactly the white creature was doing to them, but it couldn't be good.

Seconds ticked by full of agonizing pain until Haru began to realize he was losing feeling in his wrist and right hand. They were numb now and tingling. Noticing this, Haru opened his eyelids to look at them. Once he saw them, he widened his tearful eyes in fear. He did not expect his wrist to be fazing in and out like Onmon's body was doing earlier. His wrist was disappearing almost as if it was trying its best to stay attach to his arm. It was soon becaming apparent that Haru was in serious trouble.

Biting his bottom lip, Haru tried to move his other hand but found it unresponsive. His whole body was numb now. The pain was subsiding, but he could no longer feel his limbs. Not only that, he was beginning to see dark spots. He could barely see his his surroundings any longer.

It was at that point did Haru's chest began to throb with pain. He was disappearing. The same thing that was happening to Onmon was happening to him. And he knew no one was going to help him. Especially Onmon since he did not trust Haru. Haru was sure that his friends and Gatchmon would, but they were not there. It was just him. And no matter how much Haru wished it, he was positive it was going to stay like that. He was going to be alone until the end.

At least that was what Haru had thought.

He felt his whole body jerk and fall onto the ground as the throbbing pain left his wrist and ankle soon disappearing as if it never been there. As Haru awkwardly sat up feeling a tingling sensation appear in his ankle and wrist, he looked to see Onmon without his cloak and mask on standing in front of him with the white creature smashed into the wall. Haru could not help but stare wide eyed at the Appmon. Did he just save him?

"Are you okay?" Onmon asked giving his hand at Haru to take.

Haru awkwardly nodded and took it. "W-why..?" He started to ask, but Onmon interrupted him.

"Run now! Talk later!"

Onmon helped pull Haru up and he pulled him towards the closest alley near them. The two dashed into the alley with Onmon being the one to lead with Haru not too far behind him. As they ran, the two could hear the white creature loudly getting up clumsily and taking off to chase them, which only made the two run faster.

"In here!" Onmon called out to Haru jumping into a small hole in the wall.

Haru nodded upon Onmon's instruction and came to a skidding stop. He turned and propelled himself to inside the hole just barely being able to fit inside it. He turned and watched as the white creature shot right by the hole and continued its ravage down the alley. Once it was a safe distant away and could no longer be heard, Haru turned to Onmon and stared at the Appmon that was crossing its arm and looking away. Onmon looked quite different without his cloak on hiding his body. He wore small black pants, gray and blacks shoes, and a black collar around his neck. Haru originally had some doubts, but he was positive now that Onmon really looked like Gatchmon.

Onmon must have caught Haru's staring because the Appmon begrudgingly threw its arms into the air and groaned loudly. "Would you stop staring at me already? It's creepy!"

Haru blushed looking down. "I-I'm sorry..." he tried to apologize.

Onmon glared back at Haru, but sighed placing one of his hands onto his helmet. "It's fine I guess. I mean, a lot happened and it's probably hard for humans to take it all in."

Haru nodded with a confused expression. Onmon was acting different now. He was no longer treating Haru with hate and prejudice. In fact, he was attempting to be nice to him. What was making him act differently now?

"A-are you okay?" Haru asked a bit concerned and worried.

The Appmon blinked confused and then grumbled under its voice before answering Haru's question. "Of course I'm fine idiot. It's you who I'm worried about. I don't know how a worm would affect humans."

Haru blinked. Onmon was worried for him? That was new.

"Wait, those things are called worms?" Haru asked for confirmation.

Onmon nodded. "Yeah. They're programs that corrupt data. When they touch you with their tentacles, your data becomes unable to keep itself together."

"What happens when your data can't keep itself together?" Haru asked somehow already knowing the answer, but hoping he was wrong.

Onmon glanced down. "You die basically." He frowned and looked back up giving a disapproving expression at Haru. "But what were you thinking?! You do know you're made out of data here right?! When your biological self came, in order to transfer here properly, it had to be converted into data. If a worm corrupts your data, you'll die!"

Haru widened his eyes in shock upon hearing. He would actually die? Sure, he had been in other difficult and dangerous situations with Gatchmon that could have hurt him greatly, but this situation far bypassed the others in the fact that he could actually DIE. Haru had never actually feared the concept of death since he never had to experience it, but now he was beginning to realize how scary it was. Dying would mean no longer being able to return to his friends and mother. It was that thought that shook Haru to the depths of his heart.

Onmon stared at Haru taking note of his fear that was explicitly written upon his face and sighed. "Look Haru. I-I'm sorry about before for you know... how I treated you."

Haru snapped out of his thoughts and blinked in a daze at Onmon dumbly nodding still in the process of connecting back to reality. "It's okay." He answered in a simple tone.

Onmon shook his head at Haru's response and stood up glaring at Haru. "No it's not! Despite how I treated you, you saved me even when it meant you could die!" He stopped speaking and looked down sheepishly. "I don't know much about humans and all, but," he stopped looking back up at Haru with a small grin. "I think you're the best one I know so far."

Haru stared at Onmon surprised and taken aback by his comment and lightly smiled. "Thank you Onmon."

Onmon felt his cheeks heat him at the smile Haru was giving him and turned away. "Yeah, your welcome I guess."

Haru chuckled at Onmon's action towards but stopped remembering something he wanted to ask. "Onmon, why did you save me if you did not like me?" He asked.

Onmon looked back at Haru and shrugged. "You saved me. Someone as powerless as you helped save my life from a worm." He paused and began to rub his clawed hand on his helmet. "I don't trust humans still, but I'm willing to trust you. For now though!" He added with emphasis.

Haru nodded smiling, but frowned. "A-are you still going to take me to Leviathan?" He asked hesitantly.

Onmon shook his head looking back at the small entrance in the wall they had entered. "No I'm not," he said. "Leviathan might punish me severely for this, but I'm going to help you get back wherever you came from for in return for helping me." He turned back to Haru giving him a large grin. "I may not look like it, but I'm a Appmon of my word!" He said with confidence gesturing to his chest.

"Thank you Onmon," Haru said happily. "Thank you so much!"

Onmon looked shaken by Haru's response to his pledge to him and awkwardly rubbed his foot on the ground. He then took a few steps to Haru and placed a hand on Haru's wrist giving his best effort to try to give a comforting smile to Haru. It did not work of course, but Haru could tell he was trying to sincerely comfort him. It was enough to send a warm feeling to Haru's chest.

The two sat there in silence staring at each other for awhile until Onmon lifted his hand from Haru's wrist and turned away from him. He walked towards the entrance and glanced around looking for any sign of the worm. Once he confirmed it was no longer near them, he looked back at Haru signaling to follow him.

"Come on. We need to find a friend of mine, while find a disguise for you. I may be okay with you, but there are many other Appmon that are not." He said, while taking steps out of the small cavern.

Haru nodded at Onmon's words and crawled out of the hole. Once he was out of it, he got to his feet and brushed his pants with his hands. Onmon noticed what Haru was doing and stared at him curiously. Haru noticed this and gave a small smile back.

Onmon blinked at Haru's response to his staring and grumbled under his voice, but Haru could tell he was no longer angry at him.

"Let's go," He said. He took off to the path that was in front of them and Haru followed making sure to stay close to the small Appmon.

As Haru followed, he found his thoughts tracing back to how lonely and lost he felt when he first woke up in Cyber Kowloon. Now he wasn't. Yes, him and Onmon had a rough start to their meeting, but in the end, Onmon was going to help him. And that was enough for Haru to not despair anymore.

No matter what happened, Haru silently vowed to himself that he would find all the answers to his questions. He would find out why he had woke up in Cyber Kowloon alone without his friends. He would find out why his AppliDevice and wristband were no longer working. And he would out find why he had gaps in his memories. Haru knew he had an important mission to accomplish, and yet he did not know what it was. Regardless, Haru would find out. He silently made that vow in his head as he picked up his speed.

Unbeknownst to the two, a figure in a black cloak wearing a mask was watching the two run. They clenched their hand and spoke to a hidden earpiece hooked to their ear.

"Master Leviathan, I have found the human you are looking for. Permission to retrieve?"

There was a pause and the figure nodded. "Affirmative. I will bring the human known as Shinkai Haru back to you."


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm back with another fast update. This probably won't happen again until for awhile. After all, I'm going to be studying for finals very soon. Other than that, at least expect an update from me every two weeks. I'll try to update this story on a regular schedule unlike my other stories. ~coughGravityRisescough~.** **Anyway, enjoy!**

 **Note: If you guys do not recognize a name in this chapter, just look it up. I had to do some research for myself while writing this chapter, so I can guarantee you'll find the name online.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

"So outside of here, you're an Appli Driver paired with an Appmon called Gatchmon? And you woke up here with a bit of amnesia and with your Appli Drive no longer working?"

Haru nodded. "Yeah, you pretty much summed it all up."

The unlikely pair were now walking towards the place that Onmon's friend resided at. Before though, they had made sure to find a hooded cloak and a mask for Haru to wear and disguise himself from other Appmon while Onmon put his own cloak and mask back on. Along the way to their destination, Haru had began explaining to Onmon what he did remember explaining some parts of who he was including who were his friends. Onmon at first tried to ignore Haru, but eventually listened and became excited when Haru got to the part of him having an Appli Drive. His eyes literally danced with sparkles when it got to that part of Haru's explanation.

"Well if that's the case. Let's see this Appli Drive. I only heard it in legends after all." Onmon said stopping and turning back to Haru with a wide smile.

Haru tilted his head, but did what Onmon asked. He dug into his pocket with his hand and took out the Appli Drive that had lost its shine. He held it out extended for Onmon to see who only stared at it frowning.

"Why is it like that?" He asked looking up at Haru. "Last I heard, they're suppose to be brimming with colors and life."

Haru shrugged putting his Appli Drive away. "I don't know. But I think it might have to do something with why I woke up here alone."

Onmon nodded. "Could be." he murmured.

He turned and resumed walking with Haru doing the same. The pair continued walking down the path filled with shops. They ignored the passing Appmon that were caught staring at them, while making sure to not draw any more attention to theirselves. Eventually, they stopped in front of a small black building with pink arrows that were painted on the walls. Haru stared at the arrows curiously, while Onmon took no time to knock on the door. The two waited in silence until there was a click sound coming from the other side of the door followed by it being opened.

Standing at the door was a small female Appmon that had a fact of that of a bear. She wore a green hat with a pink feather sprouting from a round silver mirror on the middle of the cap with round ears extending from it. She wore a pink scarf, yellow gloves, and an outfit that looked like it was made to go on an adventure. If Haru hadn't known any better, it almost looked like the Appmon had come from a fairy tale involving the protagonist to go on a long journey in the woods.

Without giving Onmon time to pull off his mask, the female Onmon leaped onto him. "Onmon! You're back!" She said excitedly pulling him into a large bear hug. Haru could not help but smile when he saw how Onmon had blushed deeply when the Appmon made contact with him. It was apparent that the two were more than ordinary friends if the female Appmon had immediately recognized him without Onmon even taking his mask off.

Once the Appmon was finished hugging Onmon, she pulled away from him and looked up at Haru. She immediately tilted her head confused upon seeing him and looked back at Onmon.

"Who did you bring with you Onmon?" She asked pointing at Haru.

Onmon snapped out of his daze and glanced around seeing some Appmon were staring at him. He glared at them and pulled Haru and the female Appmon in making sure to close the door behind him. Once it was locked, he signaled to Haru to take off his cloak and mask and he did the same. Upon seeing Haru, the female Appmon gasped.

"Oh my! I-is that a human?" She stuttered staring at Haru in bewilderment. Haru could not help but shudder at her reaction at him. It was to be expected though. Onmon had told him that humans were rare to see at Cyber Kowloon.

Onmon nodded. "Yeah. Coordemon, meet Shinkai Haru. Haru, meet Coordemon, the important friend I wanted you to meet."

Coordemon blushed deeply at Onmon's introduction of her, but quickly regained her composure and walked towards Haru smiling at him. "It's nice to meet you Haru! If you need any of your clothes coordinated, then I'm the right Appmon to go to!"

"Coordinated?" Haru asked looking at Onmon for an explanation.

Onmon saw this and gestured to Coordemon with his hand. "Coordemon is a super Appmon. She coordinates specific outfits according to the battlefield situation."

Haru nodded as he slowly started to take in all of his surroundings. No wonder why there were so many styles of clothing on racks around the room. They were there for Coordemon to coordinate a outfit for an Appmon to help them perform better on the battlefield. It made sense to him.

"But Onmon, why is Haru here?" She asked as Haru looked back at her. "Won't Leviathan punish you if you don't take him back to him?"

Onmon chuckled and rubbed one of his clawed hands on his helmet sheepishly. "Actually I was going to, but some things happened, and well now I'm helping Haru get back to the surface."

"Oh I see." Coordemon said smiling. "Finally being a rebel aren't you? It's about time you're finally seeing what Leviathan truly is."

Onmon frowned pointing a claw towards her. "Coordemon, you can't say that! What would happen if someone were to hear you?!"

Coordemon's smile disappeared and she pouted her cheeks. "Well Leviathan may have taken my freedom away, but it hasn't taken my freedom of speech away!"

Onmon opened his mouth to say more, but decided to shut his mouth. Once Coordemon spoke her mind, there was no point in arguing against her. She always ended up winning against anyone in an argument.

"Anyway," Coordemon continued placing a hand on her waist. "How are you going to help Haru since he's a human? Not many Appmon will be willing to help you do what you're trying to do, you know."

Onmon shrugged. "Well that's kind of why I'm here. Can you help me?"

Coordemon blinked and erupted into giggles. "Oh Onmon, of course I can! What can I help you and Haru with?"

Onmon looked up Haru. "Haru, can you give me your Appli Drive?"

Haru nodded dumbfounded and got his Appli Drive out and gave it to Onmon. He didn't like the idea of giving his Appli Drive to someone else. It felt wrong, but he knew he could trust Onmon.

Onmon took the Appli Drive from Haru and handed it to Onmon. "Setmon is here right?" He asked.

"Yes, he is, in the next room, but what is this, Onmon?" Coordemon asked looking at the Appli Drive with curiosity. "I've never seen something like this before."

"That thing you have in your hands is called an Appli Drive. It's a device that humans that are paired with Appmon use to bring us to the real world as well as link us with other Appmon," Onmon answered in a dull tone as if he had already answered Coordemon's questio a million times already.

"Oh my! How does it work Haru? Show it to me!" Coordemon said excitedly turning to Haru with dazzled eyes. It was sad to say that Haru wouldn't be able to show her a demonstration.

"I-I can't," Haru sadly answered frowning. "It's not working."

"Which is why I need Setmon to check it out." Onmon added. "But you know how that Appmon is. He only listens to you."

"Hmm..." Coordemon murmured to herself staring at the Appli Drive in her hands. As she pondered over Onmon's words, Haru looked over at Onmon.

"Who is Setmon, Onmon?" He asked.

"He's An Appmon who configures equipment, no matter how delicate or difficult it is, and makes it ready for us to use easily." Onmon answered with irritation.

Haru took that as a sign to not bother him anymore. He simply looked back to Coordemon and went back to waiting for her answer to Onmon's request.

After a few more seconds of silence, she looked back up and nodded at Onmon confirming that she would do what he wanted her to do.

"I'll do it," she said. "But only if Haru goes with me to see Setmon. I'm sure he would be delighted to meet Haru!"

Onmon opened his mouth in shock. "What?! Coordemon, Haru can't be seen by other Appmon! What if Setmon tries to delete him?!"

Coordemon glared at Onmon. "I trust Setmon and unlike those Appmon out there, I'm sure he'll see how deleting Haru would be pointless!" She then turned and smiled politely at Haru signaling with her hand for Haru to follow her. "Come Haru, let's leave the small mean Appmon to himself and see what Setmon can do for you."

Haru blinked confused at how Coordemon just treated Onmon, but decided to think about it later. He took a few steps towards Coordemon and she began to lead him to a door he had not seen earlier. As she opened it and ushered him, he found himself hearing a loud grumbling voice behind him. Haru figured it was Onmon. He seemed to do that a lot whenever he was angry.

Once the door was closed behind them, Coordemon led Haru to a small desk that was placed in the small room. Around the room, mechanical tools could be seen sitting on work shelves along with some devices and manuals sitting by them. The only thing that sat on the desk was an old silver bell. Coordemon walked towards the bell and slammed her hand on it causing a loud ring to echo throughout the room. Immediately after the bell stopped ringing, a small Appmon appeared out from under the desk. The Appmon had a small tablet held in its mechanical hands while its body looked like that of a machine insect with its back covered by a blue cloth. The Appmon took one look at Haru and with excitement, moved towards him.

"I-is this what I think this is?"

"Yep!" Coordemon said rather proudly. "Meet Haru Shinkai, a human, Setmon!"

"I-I must be dreaming..." the Appmon slowly said as he stared at Haru in a daze. "Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would meet a real human."

Coordemon smiled and took a few steps toward Setmon handing out the Appli Drive to him. "This is an Appli Drive. It belongs to Haru, but it's broken. Haru was hoping you could see if you can fix it."

Setmon took the Appli Drive into his hands. "Hmm... it seems to be in a state of comatose." He turned over the Appli Drive to his side still studying it with his trio of eyes. "In fact, I'll say it's still working. Just needs to be restarted."

"You mean?" Haru started to ask, but one nod from Setmon was enough to cast Haru's worries away. His Appli Drive was fine. Whatever happened didn't make it break. It only made it go to sleep. And if Setmon could just restart it, then maybe he could use his Appli Drive to help him find his way home.

Seeing that he had helped Haru feel less worried about the situation, Setmon got to work. He placed the Appli Drive on his desk and turned back to the shelves and took a manuel out from one of them. Haru watched as Setmon opened the manual and flipped the pages in record speed until he stopped on a page. Setmon stared at the pages for a second and nodded and turned to the Appli Drive. Using his tooled hand, he grab something from under his desk and took a small yellow item with a plus and minus symbol on it. Haru stared at the small device with nervousness.

"What is that?" He asked.

"This is a battery. Your Appli Drive may have ran out of juice. I'm going to give it a charge." Setmon answered as he hooked red and blue cable wires to the Appli Drive from the device.

Once he was sure the wires were hooked safety to the Appli Drive, Setmon took the battery in his hands and pressed the on bottom. Immediately upon turning it on, the Appli Drive began to shook from the electricity coursing towards it. The three watched as the Appli Drive bounce with energy. The device's gray and black colors began to wash away revealing the original colors it was composed after Haru had been paired with Gatchmon.

"Haruuu!" A familiar voice echoed from the Appli Drive. "Haruuuu!"

Seeing that the Appli Drive was bursting with energy, Setmon turned the battery off and took the wires off the Appli Device. He picked up the Appli Device with his hands and inspected it again. After confirming that it was fine now and was not going to go back to a comatose state, he handed the red device back to Haru.

When he received the Appli Drive, Haru felt his whole world brighten up. His Appli Drive was full of life again. When he had first saw it black and grey, Haru had felt the familiar feeling of despair. His Appli Drive had become apart of him. It was an important piece and link to his new life as an Appli Driver and a buddy to his partner, Gatchmon. Now that it was working, it at least helped reassure Haru that he would be fine. Even if he was separated from his friends, as long as he had his Appli Drive, he could make it back to his friend. That's what his device helped him realize.

"Oh, can you fix this also?" Haru asked taking off his wristband and showing it Setmon. He waited patiently as Setmon took it and began to expect it. After a few seconds, Setmon nodded.

"Even though the main component to this device has been slightly damaged from the L virus, I can repair this." He said setting the wristband down on his desk and looking back up at Haru. "But it will take some time."

"What is the L virus?" Haru asked with uncertainty. It felt like he knew what it was, but he could not grasp the memory that stored that part of information. Why did felt like there was a gap in that part of his head?

"It's the virus that Leviathan infects Appmon with to make them act differently. Somehow, it got into your wristband and infected it. It's quite a wonder though that it did not infect you." Setmon answered dully turning around and placing the manual he had taken out into one of the shelves. He turned around and moved forward to Haru.

"Now Haru, why are you here? I dare say while it is fascinating that a human like you is able to walk among us, you must understand that it's dangerous. You are composed of data here. Your biological self may be stabilized here, but once it's damaged, you will not be the same once you return to your world. You may even lose your life if you are deleted here."

Haru looked up from his Appli Drive and took in all Setmon's words slowly on. Although he had heard the same thing from Onmon, it still did not help ease him. He was scared of losing his life. Not because he wanted to stay alive, but because he knew there was something he had to do before he even tried dying. That was why Haru only forced himself to nod at Setmon confirming to him that he had listened to his words.

"I know. Onmon explained that to me. But I don't know how I got here though." Haru paused and glanced down quietly complementing over what to say. Once he decided what to say next, he looked back up at Setmon. "I woke up here in an alley not remembering some things that I feel like I should know."

"Wait, you mean you have amnesia?" Coordemon asked taking a few steps to Haru. "What do you remember?"

Haru glanced down at Coordemon and opened his mouth to reply to her question. "I remember my mom, my friends, Gatchmon, the Appli Drive's functions, but I don't remember this Leviathan nor Minerva and-"

"Wait, you know Minerva?!" Coordemon interrupted with wide eyes.

Haru blinked at the question and slowly nodded his head. "I-I think I do. At least that's what it felt like when I spoke to her. She told me to stay away from Leviathan."

Haru stopped speaking noticing how Coordemon and Setmon were only staring at him in silence. He shifted uncomfortably at the attention he was drawing in from the two Appmon. He did not think that speaking about Minerva would cause this kind of response from Coordemon and Setmon.

After awhile, Setmon broke the silence.

"Haru, if Minerva spoke to you," he said in a serious tone. "Then it must mean you are very important. Tell me, where did you get your Appli Drive from?"

"I-I got it from..." Haru began to say when he stopped realizing something. He did not know where he got his Appli Drive from. He glanced down trying to think of an event that led to him acquiring the device in his hands. When he could find nothing, he felt his heart drop. Once again, there was a piece of memory that he knew was missing from his head that should have been there. This only made Haru look back up at Setmon with fear visibly explicit in his eyes. Setmon saw this and sighed.

"It seems this is more serious than it seems." He muttered in deep thought.

"W-what do you mean?" Coordemon asked as she stared at Haru concerned.

"I mean that there is something about Haru here that is very important. Haru, I suggest we-"

Before Setmon could finish, a loud sound echoed from the room Coordemon's shop was in followed by loud voices, one of which could be clearly be heard belonging to Onmon. Hearing the voices, Coordemon growled under her voice and turned to Setmon with vengeance clearly seen in her eyes.

"Setmon, we have to-"

Before she could finish though, a loud boom echoed from the other room causing the door to burst open. A powerful invisible force enter through the door sending the three to the floor. As Haru shakily got back to his knees, he found a wounded Onmon standing in front of visibly shaking in anger.

In front of the two stood a large Appmon. The Appmon wore an outfit that reminded Haru that of a jester only that it was darker in color. The Appmon had a large black cape flowing from his shoulders with ropes connected to knifes coming from behind it. The Appmon also wore a mask that had a red gash over it. The part of his mask that should have revealed his eyes was pitch black. The Appmon was clearly a figure one would see in a nightmare.

One glance at the Appmon though sent a shiver down Haru's spine. He tried his best to hide behind Onmon, but it was too late, the Appmon had clearly noticed him.

"Shinkai Haru," The large Appmon said in a toneless voice that seemed to send even more shivers down Haru's spine. "Congratulations. My master, Leviathan, has sent me to collect you. Now let's be on our way, shall we?"


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm back with another chapter. This one has quite a bit of action as well as a plot twist in the end, so I hope everyone enjoys it. And in case you guys are wondering what Gatchmon and the others are up to without Haru, don't worry, we'll get to that in the next chapter. Now time for some reviews!**

 **Berry Doyle: Thank you! It took me some picking characters to use in this story, so I'm happy that you think they were good choices.**

 **Superior-Creativity: Thanks! Haru and Onmon had a rocky start, but their friendship will grow. Especially after this chapter.**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

Haru had thought that the confrontation with the worm had been the worse experience he had after waking up in Cyber Kowloon. But the large Appmon that was standing before him and the others was starting to make him think otherwise. This clearly was worse than the confrontation with the worm.

"What does Leviathan want with Haru?" Haru heard Onmon spat with anger at the Appmon, but with a slight bit of fear hidden underneath the anger.

Hearing Onmon's voice was just enough to shake Haru out of his shock at seeing the creepy Appmon and make him instead turn to Onmon, whom was barely standing up properly. Onmon legs were shaking a tiny bit while he had a few scratches visible on his chest. Despite these injuries, Onmon was still trying to stand up straight with confidence. This made Haru's chest ache with guilt. Even though Onmon was trying to act tough in front of the Appmon, he was hurt. Haru was not quite sure if Onmon could handle whatever he went through before he was thrown into the room by the Appmon's attack a second time.

"That is none of your concern." The Appmon said shaking Haru out of his thoughts. "Hand the human over and I will not speak to Master Leviathan about your actions."

Onmon gritted his teeth. He turned to Coordemon who was not too far away, helping Setmon up. He nodded at her and looked back at the Appmon with a smirk. "Well, I guess I'm going to have to turn your offer down." He turned and winked at Haru and looked back at the Appmon. "Because Haru is staying with me!"

"And I had thought you were smart given for your worthless size." The Appmon muttered monotonous. He chuckled seconds after and raised his hand. "No matter. It's more fun this way for me."

With a snap, knives sprung out from the Appmon's cloak to Onmon and Haru. Onmon quickly pushed himself and Haru out of the way and together, they skidded on the floor towards Coordemon and Setmon. As Haru got back to his knees from the force of the push, Onmon took his place his front of him again, glaring back at the Appmon that was approaching them with each deafening step.

"Setmon," Onmon said turning towards him, making sure to walk the approaching Appmon from the corner of his eye. "Is there another way out of here besides the door?"

"There is..." Setmon answered pausing. "But I will need you to distract him in order to open the passageway."

"For how long?" Onmon asked.

"Five minutes." Setmon replied.

From the corner of his eye, Haru saw Setmon grit his teeth at Setmon's answer. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, to help ease Onmon, but Onmon beat him.

"Done." He said turning back to the enemy and raising his hands out in front of him as a small orb of energy began to glow in front of him. "Coordemon, give me the signal when Setmon is finished. And Haru!" He said a little too loud. "Make sure to stay close to Setmon and Coordemon."

"You can try to escape, but the human WILL be coming with me." The approaching Appmon said with emphasis curling his lips in a creepy smile.

"I told you." Onmon said still smirking confidently despite the fact that it could be seen clearly he was afraid. "Haru WILL be staying with me! Now! Switch Spark!"

The small energy orb was launched from Onmon. The approaching Appmon stopped walking and raised his hand sending an array of knives towards the small orb. As soon as the small orb touched the knives, the orb lit up with golden colors and exploded. Smoke erupted from the explosion sending Haru back as well as the others beside the enemy Appmon and Onmon who were both engulfed by the black smoke.

Coordemon waste no time as soon as the room was engulfed by the smoke. She ran towards Haru and grabbed onto his hand pulling him towards her and Setmon, while shouting at him to quickly follow her. Haru obeyed despite the fact that he wanted to so badly help Onmon. He couldn't leave him to fight the jester Appmon that had appeared. It felt wrong to him.

"Haru!" Coordemon hissed through clenched teeth snapping Haru out of his thoughts in a daze. He blinked realizing that he was now kneeling down behind the desk by Coordemon right by Setmon as he was in front of one of the work shelves rummaging through manuals. Behind them in the background, they could hear Onmon yelling out attacks followed by loud explosions. They had to hurry.

"What is he looking for?" Haru asked Coordemon after another one of Onmon's attack had made another loud explosion.

"He's trying to find the manual that opens the secret passageway here." Coordemon answered pointing to the floor below them giving a small smile. She was relieved that Haru was finally answering her.

"Boom!" Another explosion echoed throughout the room.

Coordemon frowned at this sound and turned towards Setmon with a pleading look. "Hurry Setmon! I don't think Onmon can fight him any longer!"

Setmon did not say anything in response to Coordemon's plea, but Haru could tell he was looking through the manuals at a faster pace. He continued rummaging through the manuals until he stopped grabbing one from the shelf. He quickly turned back towards Haru and Coordemon and ran towards them. He stopped in front of them and using his right tooled hand, press a button that was right by Haru, which he had not seen earlier.

In response to the push of the button, a small computer popped out from the desk drawers that were near the three. Without saying anything, Setmon got to work. He opened the manual, flipped it to a page, and started the computer. He tapped on the keyboard and clicked on letters and numbers that were too hard for Haru to make out.

As Setmon worked, another explosion rang out throughout the room. Haru watched as more thick black smoke appeared from the force of the explosion engulfing more of the room. Seeing the smoke made Haru tightened the Appli Drive in his hand. He wanted to help Onmon. If he had to guess, he was hurt badly. Each explosion was making that fear get worse and worse.

"I've unlocked it!" Haru heard Setmon say pressing one of the keys hard. As soon as his tooled hand made contact with a key, the small patch of floor beneath Haru and Coordemon began to move. They moved away from the spot watching it open up revealing a flight of stairs beneath them. There really had been a secret passageway beneath them.

"Give him the signal Coordemon!" Setmon called out towards Coordemon. He looked back at Haru and signaled for him to follow.

Haru nodded with reluctance. He followed Setmon to the stairs and watched as he entered the passageway taking steps down the flight of stairs. Haru raised his foot to follow, but stopped turning back to Coordemon whom was now on top of the desk raising and drawing a pink bow in the style of a hanger with her hands. Nocked to the bow was an arrow that had a pink triangular pointy end. Haru watched as Coordemon positioned the bow close to her body staring at a target he could not see due to the smoke.

"Fitting Arrow!" Coordemon shouted releasing the arrow into the black smoke. Upon releasing the arrow, a pink light enveloped a small spot in the think black smoke bringing light into that small area. Haru, however, found that his attention was not drawn into that area that Coordemon had shot at. He was staring intensively at every other area in the smoke besides that one. In dreadful fear, he turned from one direction to the next waiting for the small feline Appmon to appear out of the smoke towards him. That was when he suddenly realized it.

There were no longer anymore explosion.

"Haru!" Haru heard Setmon called out towards him from below. He ignored him though. He stood up from his crotch position and took off towards the thick black smoke, while ignoring Coordemon yelling at him to come back. He ignored the two Appmon that were trying to get him to safety and blindly entered the cloud of smoke with one thought in mind: to find Onmon.

Once Haru was in the thick smoke, he raised his hand by his mouth and called out to Onmon. "Onmon!"

Haru took even more steps desperately trying to find his way around. He could not see anything. All of his surroundings were too dark to distinguish from in the smoke. He could only hope that he could find Onmon by hearing his voice.

"Onmon!" Haru called out again. It was too silent. There were no longer anymore explosions nor any kind of yelling. He had imagined that in a battle, there would be voices, but there was nothing. It was too silent for Haru's liking. He could stop the aching fear that was pulsating in his chest faster than ever. Haru was scared now for Onmon.

"ONMON!" Haru yelled as loud as he could until he felt his throat become numb from the yelling so loud. He forced himself to stop and found himself staring at his Appli Drive without meaning to. He wanted to help Onmon, but how could he when he was powerless. Gatchmon was not there by him, so he was sure using his Appli Drive wouldn't work. He needed Gatchmon's chip in order to link other Appmon with. And even then, it was always Haru having to depend on others. He was weak. He was not the protagonist Gatchmon had said he could be. He was sure he never could he.

"There you are." A distorted, but familiar voice said behind Haru. Haru felt himself stop breathing once he heard the voice. He knew whom it belonged to. It did not belong to the Appmon Haru had wanted to find.

Haru did not know why he turned. He knew who was behind him. In fact, he knew he should have ran. And yet, he stayed rooted to the spot he was standing on and instead turned towards the Appmon behind him. Even though it was hard to barely see anything in the thick, black smoke, Haru could see that the Appmon was smirking, probably from finding Haru.

"Where is Onmon?" Haru found himself asking surprisingly with some confidence, despite the fact he was scared stiff to his very bones.

"Gone." The large and tall jester Appmon answered with jeer as if he took pleasure in ending Onmon. He took took a step towards Haru extending his hand towards him. Haru tried to move back, but the jester Appmon was faster. He grabbed onto Haru's wrist with one of his large hand and pulled him forward so that he could wrap his other hand around Haru. Wincing in pain from the force of the pull, Haru soon found his torso and one of his arms clenched tightly in the Appmon's hand. Haru made to move his hand to move one of the fingers, but quickly stopped feeling the fingers wrapped even tighter around his body. Haru was literally suffocating from the excruciating pain of being crushed.

Seeing that Haru was in visible pain, the jester Appmon chuckled as if causing Haru pain was a funny joke and moved Haru closer towards him taking out a knife outstretched in his other hand towards Haru's neck.

"Do not fight me Shinkai Haru." The Appmon sneered. "Even with that device in your hand, you are powerless. Now be a nice little human and obey me. Master Leviathan was expecting you a long time ago."

Haru said nothing and only clenched his Appli Drive even tighter in his free hand as if it was his life line upon hearing those words. He couldn't let the Appmon in front of him take him to Levithan. Not now. That was why even though he was scared, Haru forced himself to glare at the Appmon leering down at him.

"I won't obey you." Haru stated with no fear in his voice. "Not ever."

The Appmon erupted in laughter at Haru's comment and squeezed Haru even more. This time, Haru screamed. It was beyond excruciating. It was pure torture to his body. It felt like his bones were literally being crushed, while his insides were turning into mush. And yet, despite all the pain, Haru continued to force himself to glare at the Appmon. If he really had ended Onmon, Haru wanted the Appmon to see he was going to fight him. He did not want him to get the last laugh.

The Appmon indeed saw that Haru was not breaking and stopped laughing, frowning.

"I see you are a tough one." He jested with amusement. He leaned forward towards Haru making a small smirk. "But you are easily breakable."

"Switch Spark!" Yelled a familiar, but exhausted voice. Immediately after the attack was called out, a small yellow orb shot out from a cloud of smoke at the hand holding Haru. Haru watched as the the glowing orb made contact with the Appmon's hand and exploded causing the hand that was holding him up and squeezing the life out of him to finally release him.

When he was released, Haru felt his body make contact with the ground hard. He moved to get up, but found his body not responding. His lungs burned like they were on fire, his throat felt raw and scratchy, and his bones screamed at him too numb from being subjected to being squeezed. Despite all this, Haru still tried. Gritting his teeth from the pain, he forced his body to comply with him to stand back up. It took effort, but he managed to shakily get back on his legs. When he did, he found a familiar voice yelling out his name. Haru was too absorbed in his thoughts from the pain to notice that Onmon was yelling.

"Haru!" Onmon yelled once more finally appearing out of a cloud of smoke. He ran up to Haru and gave him a worried look.

"Why did you come here? I told you to stay with Coordemon and Setmon!" He lectured.

Haru could not help but smile. It felt good listening to Onmon's voice. He felt all the pain that was present in his body began to wash away. Onmon was safe. The jester Appmon had lied. Onmon was okay.

"Haru!" Onmon yelled again. He pulled his leg to get Haru's attention. "We have to go!"

"Oh, but we're just getting started." A voice sneered behind them with a dark tone.

Onmon cursed under his breath and turned around moving in front of Haru. Haru watched with widened eyes as the jester Appmon flashed a creepy smile at seeing Onmon. "I had thought my last attack had deleted you. But it seems you're more troublesome than I thought."

Onmon smirked. "Well I'm not going to go down so easily when I made a promise to Haru."

The Appmon chuckled. "Oh? Then I'm afraid you're going to have to break that promise." The Appmon raised his hand and with a commanding voice, shouted an attack. "Imitation Noise!"

The mask on the Appmon's wrist glowed red and opened its mouth letting out a burst of power. It sprang onto Onmon and exploded causing him to be pushed onto Haru and send both of them to the ground.

"W-what was that?" Onmon muttered gritting his teeth as he shakily got back up on his legs despite the fact that Haru could see he was really injured.

"An attack that copies my opponent's attack by using noise as a component making it stronger. Quite the charm isn't it?" The Appmon sneered smirking. He took a few steps closer to the two and took a knife out from his cloak. "Now say goodbye!"

The Appmon raised his hand and threw the knife with so much force that Haru only saw a streak of light shot from his hand. Haru had a feeling he knew where the knife would hit and did the only thing he could think of.

He got in front of Onmon to protect him.

Seeing the knife coming towards him, Haru did the only thing he could think of. He shut his eyes waiting for the end. He stood there in front of Onmon waiting for the inevitable for what seem like hours until he felt his right hand lit up with heat. It was warm though. That heat was what made Haru open his eyes to see why he did not feel pain.

When he opened his eyes, Haru found the Appli Device that was still clenched tightly in his hand glowing bright red. Haru stared down directly at it as it began to glow brighter and brighter making the thick, black smoke clear up. Haru could not help, but stare at his Appli Device with wonder. He had not remember it ever doing what it was currently doing.

"Haru..." Haru heard Onmon say slowly beside him. "Your Appli Drive... What's wrong with it?"

Haru said nothing to Onmon's question. His attention was fully directed to his device. As he stared at in silence, he did not notice the the jester Appmon reaching his hand out towards Haru. When Baru finally noticed just as the hand was a few inicies away from his body, Haru did the only thing he could think of. He raised his Appli Drive in front of him towards the large hand.

The jester did not stop and touched the Appli Drive. When he did, a burst of light shot from Haru's device enveloping the Appmon in its warm light. Haru watched as the Appmon screamed from being in contact with the light and was pushed away disappearing in the lingering smoke behind them. Onmon stared in confusion and wonder at the Appli Device in Haru's hand until he quickly gathered his thoughts. This was their chance to escape.

"Haru! We need to go!" Onmon shouted at him tugging on Haru's legs.

Haru nodded snapping out of his thoughts and followed Onmon, who began to lead him away from where the jester Appmon had been thrown at. They ran together blindly in the smoke until they could see a distinct pink light glowing in the distance. They both knew who the pink light belonged to and quickly picked up their speed.

They ran and ran towards the pink glowing light until they finally could see Coordemon waving her pink arrow shouting at them. Haru could see she had tears in her eyes. She was happy that they were okay.

"Hurry! Follow me!" She shouted and jumped off the desk disappearing behind it.

The two obeyed and ran towards behind the desk finding the flight of stairs beneath it leading to darkness. They entered the small passageway and stumbled awkwardly down the flight of stairs following Coordemon. Just as they took another step, they heard a creaking sound behind them. They turned and watched as the entrance to the passageway began to close. Once it was closed, they left in total darkness only having Coordemon's arrow and Haru's Appli Device being their only source of light.

"Let's go you two!" Coordemon commanded to Onmon and Haru continuing her descent down the stairs.

Haru and Onmon listened and did the same. The three ran down the stairs for what seemed like hours to Haru staying quiet the whole way. Haru wanted to stop and catch his breath, but forced his body to continue running down. It was when his foot made contact with the floor did he finally let himself relax. They were okay now.

The three took deep breaths, inhaling and exhaling as they tried to get the adrenaline out of their system. Once they did, Haru was immediately met with a glare from Onmon that was barely visible in the darkness.

"What were you thinking?!" Onmon shouted in anger at Haru. "I told you to stay with Coordemon and Setmon!"

"Onmon..." Haru heard Coordemon softly said. "He's okay. It's fine. We all made it out."

"No it's not!" Onmon shouted glaring at Coordemon now. "He could have been taken or worse!"

"But Haru was worried about you!" Coordemon shouted now with anger. "I was too! You weren't coming when I gave you the signal!"

Onmon blinked from Coordemon's explanation and sighed. "I'm sorry... I shouldn't have made you too worried..." he muttered.

Despite the fact that it was too dark to see anything, Haru could tell Onmon was generally smiling. He walked towards Onmon and kneeled down to him with a smile.

"Onmon," he said gently with a soft tone. "thank you."

Onmon grumbled under his voice, but nevertheless accepted Haru's gratitude. "Yeah. No problem." He awkwardly said, while trying to hide the blush that was now appearing on his cheek.

"What happened in there though?" Coordemon asked. "I heard an explosion and after that, I saw a bright red light."

"It wasn't me." Onmon answered turning away from Haru to Coordemon. "It was Haru who saved us."

Both Coordemon and Onmon turned towards Haru with awe. Haru ignored their looks and only stared down at his Appli Drive that was still shining brightly. He did not know what would happened if it had not done what it did. Because of it, he and Onmon were able to escape.

Haru continued staring at his Appli Drive with a mixture of awe and happiness, when he suddenly realized something that made his heart drop. The words, 'Pairing Gatchmon' were no longer on his device.

He was now paired with Onmon.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I apologize for the long delay. I was kind of waiting out to see how the anime will be ending. That and I lost slight interest. To be honest, this chapter was actually finished in late May. I just didn't feel like putting it up since I lost interest in writing in the next chapter. Now why am I continuing to write this story? Reviews, messages, and the need to try to set up a plot that is different than how the anime is taking it. Although my delays won't be as long as months, there will still be delays since I am starting college this week. Please have patience with me. Thank you!**

 **ColorScythe: I have come back from the grave. You will hopefully see what happens next if I continue to stay on put and write this story. Yes, Gatchmon and the others are going to look for Haru when they find out that he is in Cyber Kowloon and potentially, he might have two partners later. I haven't decided yet.**

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

There were many things Gatchmon regretted not doing that day. He had thought that after turning into an ultimate, anything would be no longer impossible to do. And yet, because of his shortsightedness, he was not able to see that he was still weak.

He regretted not being strong enough to pull himself out of the clutches of the virusmon. He regretted not having enough hope that he could make it out of the L-virus infected water without Haru being there. But most of all, he regretted that he was not fast enough to pull Haru out of Mienumon's clutches.

He remembered what happened so vividly. After he had turned back from his ultimate self into his standard self after successfully getting rid of all the virusmon that had infected the Waffle IOS and every phone on Earth, Mienumon had appeared from behind Haru from out of a darkly lit digital portal. Without giving Gatchmon anytime to react, she had grabbed onto Haru's hand and pulled him forward into the portal with her.

It still haunted Gatchmon the look of fear Haru gave back at him when he realized what was happening to him. It was a look that would still stay engraved in Gatchmon's head for hours to come after losing Haru. He could not forget how Haru's bright blue eyes begged at Gatchmon to help him while he called out his name, when all Gatchmon could do was try to reach for his hand. He was not even a second away from grabbing onto it, when it disappeared into the portal. When it did, Gatchmon tried to dive into the portal as well, but it quickly vanished leaving only digitized fragments behind for Gatchmon to stare at in horror and shock.

Gatchmon hated himself for what he did not do. He had failed Haru, his precious buddy and friend. There were so many things Gatchmon regretted not doing that day, but the thing he regretted the most was not being able to protect Haru. Because of him, Haru was missing. And knowing what type of Appmon Mienumon was, Gatchmon knew that whatever happened to Haru after he had disappeared into the portal with her had to be bad.

It was why he was sitting alone by the digital sea, while conducting searches on where Haru could be. Gatchmon had not stopped at all ever since Haru had disappeared. He had forced himself to keep looking for Haru. He had to save him. It was something he had to do no matter what it took.

"I predict that that you will exhaust yourself to the point in which you will pass out unless you stop what you are doing right now."

Gatchmon stopped his search at hearing this and turned around to see whom had said those words. He was surprised to see a tall green Appmon with a big red star on his hat behind him. Holographic cards with odd designs on them surrounded the Appmon as he stared down at Gatchmon with dark red eyes. Gatchmon could not help, but shudder under the Appmon's gaze.

"Who-" Gatchmon started to stay, but the Appmon cut him off.

"My name is Tarotmon, an Appmon who has mastered the art of fortune-telling."

"Fortune-telling?" Gatchmon asked confused. "Why are you here then?"

Tarotmon waved his hand and all the holographic cards expect one disappeared. He flipped the remaining card, so that Gatchmon could see its design. On the card was a picture of a snake. Gatchmon stared at the card with confusion and looked back at Tarotmon.

"Why are you showing me this?" He asked.

Tarotmon waved his hand and the card floated to his side as he started to speak again. "I tell fortunes with these cards. This card," he said with emphasis pointing his hand to the card with the snake on it. "Tells of an bad omen, which will happen to someone close to you in the near future."

"Someone close to me?" Gatchmon murmured slowly trying to think of someone who would fit that description, when he suddenly realized who Tarotmon was most likely describing.

"Wait, you mean Haru?!" He said hastily getting up and taking steps towards Tarotmon. "What do you know about Haru?!"

"I know that your friend was taken a few days ago and he is now in a world you cannot reach unless you gather what you were originally gathering with him."

Gatchmon pondered over Tarotmon words. What had he been gathering alongside Haru? They were trying to reach Leviathan and stop him. That he definitely remembered. But in order to do that, they had to...

Gatchmon eyes widened. He suddenly knew what Tarotmon was talking about. "You're talking about the Seven Code Appmon, right?" He asked. "What does that have to do with Haru?"

"Everything,"Tarotmon answered in a dull tone. "I predict that the snake on this card will find your friend unless you find the remaining Seven Code Appmon and go beyond that door where your friend is behind in."

"You mean... he's in the deep web?" Gatchmon asked quietly. "I thought-"

"Your friend escaped from the Appmon who took him, but what remains beyond that is too dark for me to see. All I can say is that you must do what you were originally doing in order to reach your friend."

Gatchmon said nothing finding himself lost over Tarotmon's words. Even though Tarotmon was cryptic with his predictions, Gatchmon understood one thing: Haru had escaped from Mienumon. He had thought that something had happened to Haru after Mienumon had taken him, but hearing that he had escaped from her drove some of his worries away.

However, it was the fact that Haru was now in the deep web that made his stomach make a somersault. The deep web was a dangerous place. It was where Leviathan resided at. Gatchmon knew that Haru had no possible chance of fighting Leviathan without him there by his side. Gatchmon did not want to think what would happen if Leviathan found Haru. He could not let that happen.

"But be warned. When you do find your friend, he will not be the same person you once knew."

Gatchmon's tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean?" He asked looking back up at Tarotmon.

Tarotmon shook his head. "That is all I am bounded to say. All I can now say is to wish you luck."

"But wait! I need to-" Gatchmon started to say, but he stopped speaking realizing that Tarotmon was starting to fade away. Despite this, he decided to ask one last question.

"Why did you tell me this?" Gatchmon asked with hope evident on his face that Tarotmon will answer. To his surprise, Tarotmon did.

"The card of fate led me to you." He said as his body faded away even more at a faster pace. As it did so, his body began to leave speckles of data behind. "With guidance, I hope you will do as I ask or your friend will meet a fate far worst than what I can see."

"What fate?!" Gatchmon questioned fearfully. "Tell me!"

But it was too late. Tarotmon had fully disappeared. Gatchmon stood there in a stupor as his mind slowly processed what Tarotmon had told him. Haru was in danger. And the only way he could get to Haru was by finding the last of the Seven Code Appmon. They had five and only needed two more, but Gatchmon had no idea where to start looking for the last two.

"Gatchmon-Aniki!" A voice called out from behind Gatchmon.

Gatchmon flinched recognizing the voice and turned to his side to see Dokamon running at him with a worried expression. Behind him also running was Eri, a fellow Appli Driver like Haru, who also was an idol. Unlike Dokamon though, she was giving a serious expression at Gatchmon. Gatchmon immediately knew where this was going.

"There you are Gatchmon." She said with a stern tone as she stopped in front of Gatchmon alongside Dokamon. "Everyone has been looking everywhere for you! You can't run off by yourself!"

Gatchmon said nothing and only looked away. He trusted Eri and Dokamon, but he did not want to tell them what he had found out from Tarotmon. It was his fault that Haru was taken. Because of that, it felt like it was his duty to find Haru by himself. He had to fix his mistake alone. Not with them.

Seeing that he wasn't listening to her, Eri bit her bottom lip with anger evident on her face, but she quickly realized that getting angry would not help the situation. So she took a deep breath and continued to talk to Gatchmon, but this time with a softer tone.

"Gatchmon," she said. "Please stop forcing yourself like this. I know you have been searching for Haru without stop, but please, you can't do this by yourself. You need to rest."

Gatchmon's face contorted into anger and he turned so quickly to Eri that he nearly startled her and Dokamon. "What do you know?!" He yelled angrily. "Because of me, Haru is gone! I could have saved him, but I didn't! It's why I need to do this by myself!"

"Gatchmon, it's not your fault." Eri softly said, looking down sadly. "I feel just as guilty as you do for not being there to help. Everyone does..."

"But beating yourself up like this won't help Haru!" She spoke at a louder tone looking back up with determined eyes. "You and I both know Haru wouldn't want you beating yourself up like this!"

Gatchmon found himself not being able to respond Eri's words. He was shocked at what she said. Deep in his heart, he knew she was right. Haru wouldn't want him beating himself over what he couldn't do. He wouldn't want him recklessly trying to look for the Seven Code Appmon by himself. And he especially wouldn't want him hating himself. That Gatchmon understood wholeheartedly.

"Please Gatchmon-Aniki, come back with us. We'll figure something out." Dokamon pleaded, gazing at Gatchmon with concern.

"I promise Gatchmon, we'll find Haru. But let's do it together."

At that point from hearing those words, Gatchmon could not help, but break down. He wanted to, when Tarotmon told him where to find Haru, but forced himself to keep it in. But now he couldn't. He sniffled as the tears he could not have possibly hold in any longer began to ran down his cheeks from his eyes. When he realized he was crying, Gatchmon looked away to hide his tears. Seconds later, he found himself enveloped in Eri's arms. She was hugging him.

"It's okay Gatchmon." She said softly as Gatchmon looked up at her seeing that she too was shedding tears. "Don't take this burden by yourself."

For hours, Eri sat there on the digital beach with Gatchmon crying in her arms. Gatchmon hated opening himself in front of her and Dokamon, but the tears would not stop. They continued to rush down from his eyes as his guilt and anger at himself began to wash away. Slowly, the tears began to stop and gradually, Gatchmon began to feel better. When he was no longer shedding anymore tears, he found himself no longer hating himself. It was as if he had not even been angry at himself.

"Thank you..." Gatchmon shyly said with gratitude, looking up at Eri and Dokamon. "I think I'm okay now."

"Good," Eri said putting down Gatchmon. She smiled at him, but soon frowned raising her fist. Without giving a chance for Gatchmon to react, she punched him in the belly sending him a few feet away. Gatchmon growled upon being hit and glared at Eri.

"What was that for?!" He yelled in annoyance.

Eri waved her hand sideways as if she was fanning herself. "That was for making us worry." She simply stated taking a few steps away and turning along with Dokamon. "Now come on, the others are waiting for us."

"Wait..." Gatchmon murmured softly looking down, hearing Eri and Dokamon stop taking steps. He was reluctant to do so, but he knew he had to tell them. It was what Haru would want him to do.

Without any hesitation, Gatchmon spoke again. "I know where Haru is."

Eri widened her eyes in shock. "Y-you do? Where is he then Gatchmon?!"

"In the deep web." Gatchmon answered determinedly. "The only way we can reach that place is by gathering the remaining Seven Code Appmon."

Eri stared at Gatchmon in shock. Her frown slowly turned into a small smile. "Then let's go find them!"

"But Gatchmon-Aniki, how do you know this?" Dokamon asked.

"An Appmon called Tarotmon gave me some advice from his fortune-telling." Gatchmon answered smiling. "We need to-"

Gatchmon stopped speaking feeling a burst of pain suddenly entered throughout his body. He kneeled down squeezing his eyes tightly as the pain become harder to handle. When it finally became unbearable, he screamed. It was terrible. It felt like a thousand needle had pierced into him making his chest throb with pain. It continued to throb for several seconds, until Gatchmon had realized it had subsided. When it did, he realized something that should have been there in his core was missing.

His connection to Haru as a buddy Appmon was gone.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I'm suppose to be studying for a quiz tomorrow, but I really wanted to update a chapter this week, so here you go. College life is difficult to manage, but writing my stories is what's keeping me staying focused. On the other note, every chapter will be either focusing on Haru and his new friends or Gatchmon and the others. Want to try something different. And now let's get on to reviews~**

 **BerryDoyle: Yep, poor Gatchmon. Especially since the bond he had with Haru as his Buddy was literally striped away from his heart.**

 **ColorlessScythe: I think Gatchmon and Onmon meeting up with each other would be quite funny to write. They both cherish Haru (although Onmon is working on it), so I imagine they would form a club solely for the purpose to protect Haru after they see they kind of have the same ideals. Especially after everything that has happened to Haru so far. And no spoilers, hehe~**

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

"Huh?! What do you mean that I'm your Buddy Appmon now?!" Onmon yelled, clearly not happy with the news that Haru just gave to him.

Haru only looked down at his glowing AppliDrive with a sorrowful look, staring at the bright words, 'Pairing Onmon', that seem to glow brighter with each passing second. It felt wrong that he was now partnered to Onmon after all the times he had spent with Gatchmon. Granted those times were short, but they were still special to him. But now it felt like he was stripped away from the bond he had with Gatchmon and given a new one without any consent. It felt much too wrong to him to simply accept. .

It wasn't that Haru had anything against Onmon. He was happy that Onmon and his friends were trying to help him try to find a way back home, but being paired with Onmon meant losing Gatchmon as his Buddy. He didn't want that to be taken away from him. Gatchmon was important to him. His AppliDrive symbolized that bond between him and Gatchmon.

"Onmon, calm down, I'm sure it's not bad as it seems." Coordemon spoke up, giving him a disapproving look.

Onmon gritted his teeth and turned to Coordemon with immense anger. "How can I not? I did not sign up for this! I said I would take Haru home! Not become his 'Buddy Appmon" that he can just use!"

Haru flinched at these words. Even though he knew that Onmon was wrong, it still hurt hearing these words. The bond he has with Gatchmon was not like that. He gave Gatchmon strength, while Gatchmon helped him find courage. They didn't use each other. As partners, Buddies, they helped each other. Onmon just did not understand that.

"Onmon!" Coordemon scolded. "Apologize to Haru right now!"

"Why? Because now I'm his Buddy?" Onmon retorted. He crossed his arms and looked away. "As if I will…"

"May I ask what happened here?" Asked a familiar voice.

Haru and the rest turned to see Setmon standing near them, while holding an unfamiliar, small device. He walked forward to the three and stopped by Coordemon.

"Coordemon?" He asked, inquiring her to explain.

Coordemon sighed and explained to Setmon what Haru had told them after he had discovered what his AppliDrive now said. She explained how Onmon took the news. Once she was finished, Setmon nodded and looked over to Onmon, gazing at him with stern eyes.

"Onmon, it is not Haru's fault that you are now paired with him. You should not blame him at all," he said. "Instead, you should work with him, since you are now his partner. It is time you start treating Haru differently and not like he is a package you are delivering."

Onmon glared at Setmon with rage, but he did not open his mouth to respond to Setmon's words. Instead, he turned and stomped forward down the passage until he could no longer be seen. Coordemon watched him go and sighed. She turned to Haru with a small smile.

"I'm sorry about how he is acting, Haru. Onmon is really nice, but… He has a problem trusting others."

Haru shook his head with a sorrowful expression. "I am sorry too... " He said softly. "I should have listened to you and not try to go after Onmon. Maybe, my AppliDrive would not have partnered him to me then…"

"I have a feeling that it would have anyway. It was a matter of time." Setmon spoke with a slight chuckle in his voice. "I think since the Appmon that you were originally partnered with was not there to save you, it looked for another Appmon to fill in the role of being your partner and found Onmon as the right candidate for that job."

"Do you think it is only for temporary?" Coordemon asked.

"I have no idea. The AppliDrive is still a mystery to me. There is no way of knowing to what Appmon should be partnered with what human." Setmon replied. He paused and looked back to the direction Onmon had went. "On the other note, it is best we start moving. Leviathan's follower will sure to be on the move."

Coordemon nodded. She walked over to Haru, who was still silent, and took ahold of his hand and began to lead him as they followed Setmon. As they walked, Haru's mind continuously began to replay Onmon's reaction to now being his partner. Haru felt nothing, but guilt over this. While he knew that it wasn't his fault like Setmon had said, it still did not change the fact that his AppliDrive had pulled Onmon into something he shouldn't have to get involve in. Gatchmon wanted to be his partner and eventually, Haru had the same feelings. Onmon was different, though. He obviously did not want this. And as such, he shouldn't be forced into a partnership with Haru. Haru understood that it was not fair for either of them.

"So where is this passage leading us to?" Haru heard Coordemon ask. Haru blinked out of his thoughts and watched as Setmon turned towards Coordemon.

"To the Appmon Kindergarten. While is not the ideal place to hide at, it is the last place Leviathan's followers will think to look for us at."

"Appmon Kindergarten?" Haru asked in confusion. He had never heard of the place.

Setmon looked over at Haru. "Appmon Kindergarten is a place where we used to evolve into Appmons from apps. Now due to a version update process that allows us to evolve even faster, we no longer use the Kindergarten." Setmon explained as the three continued to walk.

Eventually the three stopped at a flight of stairs that led to a small square door in the ceiling. Haru followed Setmon and coordemon up the flight and stairs and watched silently as Setmon pushed the small ceiling door to lift it open. Once he had it opened, he walked out of the passageway with Coordemon and Haru not far behind.

Once they were out of the passageway, Haru gazed around at his new surroundings. Although he should have expected the Appmon Kindergarten to be a place like its name implied it to be, he still had not expected it to be a place filled with toys and young children's books. Posters were taped on the walls with odd symbols on them, while deserted tables and chairs sat near in one of the corners of the wall. From what he could see, Haru could easily tell that the Kindergarten was once lively place for young Appmon, but now it was empty except for the things that rested abandoned inside the room. It was sad to see such an important place that was now long forgotten.

 _Thump!_

Haru blinked and turned to where the sound was made. In the corner, throwing a ball at the wall was Onmon with his back turned towards the three. Haru watched him as he kept throwing the ball at the wall, wincing at each time the ball made contact with the wall as it got louder and louder. Onmon still hadn't cooled down.

To Haru's surprise, both Coordemon and Setmon simply ignored the brooding Appmon in the corner and began to discuss what they should do next.

"We should probably take a look around outside and see if there any clues that may help us." Coordemon suggested.

Setmon placed one of his tooled hands under his chin in deep thought as his red eyes darken slightly. "And what of Leviathan's follower? He will sure to recognize us now."

"Not if we disguise ourselves." Coordemon said, her eyes twinkling in delight at her idea. "I can make us outfits that will sure to throw off anyone that looks at us."

"Hmmm…" Setmon hummed to himself. "What do you think, Haru?" Setmon said, addressing Haru to the conversation.

Haru looked anyway from Onmon, who he was watching silently during the duration of the conversation, and found himself the center of Coordemon and Setmon's gazes. Even though he had not been entirely focused on Coordemon and Setmon's discussion, he had heard enough of their plan.

"I think we should go along with Coordemon's idea." Haru said, hoping that they would accept his reasoning. "I trust Coordemon. I have faith that her plan won't fail. As long as we can put in our trust and faith in each other, it will be hard for any of us to fail."

Haru stopped speaking and noticed that Coordemon and Setmon were staring at him in awe. Unused to this kind of reaction, Haru slightly turned his head away so he couldn't see their gazes. While he had a lot more confidence and courage than what he once had, there were still moments he would easily shy away. This was definitely one of those moments.

"I see…" Setmon said, with a slight chuckle in acknowledgment of Haru's reasoning. He turned towards Coordemon and nodded to her that her plan should be followed. He then looked back at Haru and began to address to him once more.

"Haru, you will stay here. It is much too dangerous for you to go out. While Coordemon and I will search for clues, Onmon will accompany you here to keep you safe."

A loud groan could be heard from the corner by the shelves of books, but it was ignored by Setmon as he continued speaking.

"I know you are both hurting and for both different reasons. But Haru, you will come to see that your old partnership isn't truly gone, while Onmon will come to see what a partnership truly is. That is why, I am leaving you here in his care."

Haru opened his mouth to respond to Setmon's words, but found he couldn't. Was it that readable that he was hurting over the fact that the partnership he had with Gatchmon was stripped away from him? He didn't want this new partnership. He wanted to go back home. He wanted to go back to his mom and his friends who were all waiting back for him. But most of all, he wanted to see Gatchmon again. Haru wanted nothing more than that.

"We should go. Onmon, you better take good care of Haru or I will make you pay!" Coordemon said, glaring at Onmon, who was still in the corner, sulking, strangely no longer making anymore sounds.

"Be safe, you two." Setmon said with a slight nod.

With that, the two Appmon walked towards the large green doors that Haru had not seen earlier and opened them. They exited and closed the doors behind them, locking them with a loud click. Haru stood silently staring at the now locked doors as his mind continuously began to wonder. Eventually, he had enough of the silence and his thoughts and walked towards the corner where Onmon was. It was time to make up with the angry Appmon.

"Onmon." Haru said, staring at the Appmon, who was still turned away. "I… I'm sorry about what happened…"

Seeing that there was no response from Onmon, Haru sighed and kneeled down. He turned his body away from Onmon so that they were back to back and continued.

"I know what happened was something you didn't ask for. I… I didn't ask for it either." Haru dug into his pocket and took out his AppliDrive, staring down at it quietly. He brushed his finger over the words, 'Pairing Onmon' as he made a solemn expression.

"I know you are angry. That is why I won't force you into being my partner. I want to give you a choice like how I was given."

Haru waited for Onmon to respond. Time ticked by in silence with no words coming out of the Appmon. Realizing that Onmon was probably still too angry to talk to him, Haru moved to get up and give Onmon space. Just before he could though, Onmon finally spoke up.

"Your partner, Gatchmon… What is he like?"

Haru blinked, surprised at Onmon's question. He smiled fondly at hearing the name of his partner as his memory began to go back to the first time he had met Gatchmon. While he didn't remember how he received his AppliDrive, he knew when he had met Gatchmon. Their meeting was something he could never forget.

"Gatchmon is one of my closest friends." Haru said as his smile grew wider at remembering all the times he had with Gatchmon.

"He's very energetic and easily gets excited over things. He was like that the first time we met. I didn't want to be involved with him, but Gatchmon wouldn't allow me to give up on myself. I had the choice to walk away, but after seeing the courage Gatchmon displayed to me on that day and hearing about how much he believed in me, I knew I couldn't turn back. And so, I made the decision to become an AppliDriver."

"How did you make that choice though knowing that it would mean going against Leviathan? Leviathan is far more stronger than you two."

Haru frowned. It was hard to answer Onmon's question when he could not remember anything about Leviathan. He knew that his AppliDrive was connected to Minerva and Leviathan. He just didn't remember how it was. It was frustrating to him. There was information he knew he should know, but it wasn't there.

But despite that, Haru knew that together he and Gatchmon were strong. He remember all the times he helped Gatchmon evolve to DoGatchmon and the battles they faced together. Yes, they were weak alone, but together, they were a force that was hard to beat. Not only that, they were not alone. Eri and Astra and their Appmon were there to help him and Gatchmon. Whatever reason why he received his AppliDrive, Haru understood that it was a device that reacted to the bond of a human and their partner Appmon. And knowing what that bond can grant, Haru was positive it was stronger than the evil AI Minerva had told him to stay away from. It had to be.

"Haru?" Haru heard Onmon say. Hearing the Appmon's voice sent a wave of calmness in Haru. He was now certain with the answer to Onmon's question.

"I don't know how strong Leviathan is, but the bond I have with Gatchmon is stronger." Haru paused as his mouth formed into a small smile in reminiscence. "When I made the decision to become an AppliDriver, Gatchmon made the decision to become my partner. We were powerless alone, but together, we were able to do so much more what we couldn't do alone."

"I see…" Onmon muttered in deep thought. He turned and stood up and walked forward around Haru until he now stood in front of him. Haru stared at Onmon confused over his actions, as he spoke once more.

"Let's get something straight," Onmon said as his cheeks were strangely becoming pink. "I will be your partner until I get you out of here. I still don't like it, but I think being your partner won't be half as bad. If what you say is true, I want to fight with you then."

"Onmon…" Haru said slowly, baffled over what the small Appmon just said. He was prideful and wary, but he was now willing to put aside those aspects of his away. He was now willing to become Haru's partner.

"Are you sure?" Haru asked. "You don't have to."

Onmon gritted his teeth and sighed. "As much as I hate to agree with that old Appmon, he is right. I just have to accept what happened."

"Besides," Onmon said, gesturing to himself as his mouth formed into a large grin. "It's not everyday an Appmon like me gets a chance to work with a human."

Haru smiled as gratitude began to surge up inside him and overwhelm him. While Onmon was different from Gatchmon in many ways, they were also alike. Haru was hurt that Gatchmon was no longer his partner, but now, that pain was quickly subsiding. Unknowingly, Onmon was helping him heal. And now that Haru could think clearly, he understood what Setmon meant when he told him the bond he had with Gatchmon was not gone. That bond will always be inside his heart.

"Um.. I'm sorry too for you know… How I reacted…" Onmon said, fumbling over his words, as he awkwardly rubbed his foot on the ground. It was obvious to Haru to that Onmon rarely apologized to others.

Despite that, Haru nodded to Onmon, grateful for his apology. "It's okay Onmon. I understand why you reacted that way."

"Still… I'm sorry, Haru."

Haru opened his mouth to tell Onmon that there was no need for anymore apologizing, but froze. His eyes widened as blurry images began to appear in his mind and play like a movie. He saw himself diving into a dark purple sea, followed by pain as he reached out to grab onto DoGatchmon, who was looking up at him with a sad expression. He heard himself telling DoGatchmon things that were too difficult to make out, but the words he could definitely hear was that they were Buddies. The images soon changed to Haru's hand grabbing onto DoGatchmon as a bright light engulfed them. In the bright light, Haru saw an golden Appmon stand before him and DoGatchmon saying words that were still difficult to make out. After that, another light engulfed the image bringing Haru this time to another image of him running towards Gatchmon, who was kneeling down on the ground exhausted. Just before his image self could reach him though, Haru saw a digital portal open behind him as a hand grabbed onto him and began to pull him in. Haru saw himself struggle to make the hand let go of him to no avail as he watched Gatchmon run forward towards him to help him. But it was too late. The image faded into darkness as he went through the portal, with one unfamiliar name being heard in the distance.

When it was over, Haru opened his eyes, frantically looking around for the hand that grabbed onto him in the images that played in his head. Instead, he found himself laying on the ground with Onmon gazing at him worriedly, shouting inaudible words to him. Realizing that he was safe, Haru lifted himself up from the ground. He placed a hand on his now aching head as Onmon's words began to become audible.

"...you okay?! What happened?! Haru!"

Haru shook his head as he groggily looked up at Onmon. "I saw things." He answered, wincing at how much it hurt to speak.

"What did you see?" Onmon questioned taking a step forward towards Haru.

"I… I don't know exactly, but I think Gatchmon was fighting an Appmon and he lost and I dove in some water to save him. After that..." Haru paused, fighting to remember what happened next. The images he had seen were coming blurrier with each passing second.

"I grabbed onto Gatchmon and another Appmon appeared before us. I think after that, we won, but... An Appmon grabbed onto me and pulled me into a portal"

"What did this Appmon look like?" Onmon asked, his eyes narrowing.

"I don't know." Haru answered. "But I do know the name of the Appmon. It's Mienumon."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: The last episode was so dark. Whoever said that Digimon Universe was not worth watching and was too childish, I'm sure this week's episode will make them think otherwise. It makes me excited to see how I am going to weave the newest episode into this story in the future. I can assure you, I am going to make it so much darker.**

 **Now this chapter is mostly just dialogue, so I'm sorry if you want action. It's just not going to be a lot of action just yet. On the other note, I hope I managed to get most of the characters that appeared in this chapter written right. I know I shouldn't worry too much about this, but that's just me. And before I forget, thank you to all those who have favorited, followed, and reviewed this story. You guys are the reason I didn't stop writing this story, so thank you!**

 **Guest: Yep, he can. But you have to think what could happen once Haru gets an Appli Drive Duo. The Appli Driver uses their life energy to evolve their Appmon into the next grade. I would imagine it wouldn't be good if Haru tries to evolve two Appmon into their super or even ultimate grade. It might endanger his life supplying both of them with his energy. But then again, who knows what might happen.**

 **Rockster: What happened to Haru that led him to have gaps in his memories will be answered in the future . And I'm happy I followed what those Appmons would do according to what their application does. It was difficult trying to do that research. Although Onmon hasn't done what his application states, there is a good reason. I just don't see anything for him to turn on. Not yet, at least. Onmon's personality was not hard for me to come up with. Since he was the opposite of Offmon, I needed his personality to contrast that of Offmon's. Oh and there is going to be a lot of angst when Gatchmon finds Haru. I can't spoil anything else beyond that though. Since this is a fanfic, you can expect it to take a different direction than that of the anime. In that regard, Bootmon is not playing a huge role in this story, which means Hajime was kidnapped for a different reason by Leviathan. And thank you! I don't think this story is super detailed unlike the rest of my stories, but it makes me really happy that you think so. And I am happy to give this series some love. I think it deserves it. And you are fine for not finding my story earlier. It makes me incredibly happy that you have found it now.**

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

Emptiness.

That was all Gatchmon could describe the gaping hole inside his chest. After the bond that connected him to Haru and his AppliDrive was severed, Gatchmon found the pain of its absence much more painful. It felt like he no longer had any purpose. No longer having Haru as his Buddy was excruciating. Gatchmon had found him in his Search. Haru was the only person that Gatchmon knew would give him strength to defeat Leviathan, but now it no longer mattered.

Haru was no longer his Buddy.

Gatchmon rubbed the tears that were threatening to break through and looked over to where the other Appli Drivers were sitting alongside their Appmon. After Gatchmon had calmed down, Eri made him explain about what had happened to him. Along telling her and Dokamon this information, Gatchmon also explain to her what Tarotmon had told him.

Although Gatchmon wanted nothing more to be on his own, Eri wouldn't have it. She brought him back to the Appli Driver's headquarters in the basement under the Koshinoki Bookstore. Despite not being able to go out on his own, he was allowed to sit away from them. Eri understood that Gatchmon needed space, but he also needed support more than ever, which was why she did not want him to be left alone.

Gatchmon watched from the stairs as the Appli Drivers discussed with their Appmon and Ai about Haru. He watched as they tried to think of ideas of where to find the last two Seven Code Appmon. He understood that they wanted to find Haru as much as him, but there was no way of knowing where the last two Seven Code Appmon were. It could take up to months to find them. And given how Gatchmon was disconnected from the partnership that was established between him and Haru, it looked things were not looking good for Haru.

Gatchmon wanted to save Haru. He wanted nothing more than that. But the emptiness inside him was beginning to make him become uncertain if he wanted that. Now that he was no longer Haru's Buddy, everything seemed like a void to him. It seemed like everything he did with Haru no longer mattered.

And yet, the fear that was swarming inside Gatchmon was keeping that emptiness at bay. Gatchmon was afraid to know what happened to Haru to make the bond they had become disconnected. He feared for the worst that by the time they find Haru, it would already be too late. Tarotmon's words were cryptic, but they were enough to tell Gatchmon that Haru was in grave danger. And even though he was no longer Haru's Buddy, he still wanted to save him. After all, Haru was his precious friend.

"I just don't know where to look…" A familiar voice said in sadness.

Gatchmon looked up seeing that Eri was gazing down sadly, while Dokamon was doing his best to comfort her. He found himself envying them as jealousy began to take root inside his chest. It was not fair that Haru had to be separated from him when the other Appmon still got to be with their Buddies. Haru was in pain. Gatchmon knew that and so was he. And yet, the others couldn't have possibly understand this. Somewhere deep inside Gatchmon's heart, he found himself wishing that it was either Dokamon or Musimon that lost their buddies.

Realizing what he had thought, Gatchmon forced himself to cast those dark thoughts away. It wasn't fair what happened to him, but not even the other Appli Drivers and their Appmon deserved that . No one did. The only thing Gatchmon could now was try to heal as he look for Haru. It was he could do for his precious friend.

"I am worried about Haru-kun. Everyone at school has noticed that he hasn't come to school in a few days…" Ai spoke softly as she hugged her hands to herself. It was apparent to Gatchmon that she was just as worried about Haru as the rest of them and yet she could do nothing, but be at the sidelines.

"What did you tell Haru's mom, Eri?" Astra asked Eri, turning towards her.

Eri glanced down, frowning. "I told her that he would be spending a week at a friend's house to complete a project for school, but I don't know how long the lie will last. She is going to start worrying soon."

"I think Yuujin-kun is already." Ai said, looking back up at the others. "He came by yesterday to ask me if I have seen Haru-kun."

"That's understandable." Eri said. "He and Haru are close friends. He was bound to know when something was wrong involving Haru."

"Isn't weird that an Appmon would took Haru though?" Astra questioned, crossing his arms in thought. "Why would they take him?"

"I have no idea, Astra, but that's why we have to find him." Eri answered, glancing over to Gatchmon who turned away at the mentioning of the Appmon taking Haru.

"But where do we even begin looking for the last two Seven Code Appmon?" Musimon asked.

Both of the Appli Drivers glanced down in silence, not being to answer Musimon's question. Gatchmon watched them as they did this, feeling a lump began to form in his throat. The others wanted to help Haru, but they did not know where to start. And the hard truth was he had no idea where to start either.

"Shinkai Haru…" a familiar voice said, causing everyone in the head to turn to the direction where the voice came from.

Standing on the stairs was Rei, who was giving a disdainful look to everyone, while Hackmon stood next to him in silence. Upon seeing the three, Gatchmon stood up and glared at the two. Although Haru had placed his trust in Rei, Gatchmon was not going to forget what Rei had done.

Although Gatchmon's anger was apparent, Rei ignored him and continued speaking.

"Are you doubting you can find him?" He asked.

Everyone widened their eyes at Rei's question as Gatchmon's anger began to melt away. The Appli Drivers and their Appmon remembered that during the fight with Sakusimon, Haru had asked Rei a question similar to the one Rei had just asked. They had no idea that question had left a mark deep inside him.

Getting no response from those he directed his question to, Rei narrowed his eyes in irritation and turned, getting ready to walk up the stairs and leave the room.

"Let's go, Hackmon."

Just before he could take a step though, Eri's voice echoed throughout the room.

"Wait!"

Both Rei and Hackmon turned and watched as Eri took a step towards them, with a determined expression. She stopped and opened her mouth, as she silently stared back at him.

"We will never doubt that we can find Haru." She said, gesturing to herself and to the others

Rei stared back at Eri, his expression still the same. He walked down the stairs along with Hackmon and stopped until they were in front of Eri. Seeing that they were too close to Eri, Dokamon immediately got in front of Eri, glaring at the two new occupants. Still, Rei ignored this and opened the laptop he had been holding under his arm. He held it in one hand as he typed onto the keyboard for several minutes. When he was finished, he turned the laptop around so everyone could see it. On the screen was a picture of a female Appmon. Everyone stared at the Appmon in confusion, as Astra asked who it was on the screen.

"Who is that?" He asked.

"Mienumon." Rei answered, as he closed his laptop. "She was the one who took Shinkai Haru."

"Why?!" Gatchmon yelled, gritting his teeth in anger. Eri and Astra and their Buddy Appmons stared at him, surprised at his outburst. Since he had come back along with Eri and Dokamon, he had been silent. And now, he was finally speaking.

"We believe that he was abducted due to Leviathan's orders." Hackmon answered, turning towards Gatchmon. "Mienumon works for Leviathan. She was responsible for the attack on the Waffle IOS. It was a trap for your friend."

Gatchmon's body stiffened at Hackmons remark. He drooped his head, hiding his gaze away from everyone. He should have known. He should have saw that it was a trap. When he and Haru were separated from the other Appli Drivers and the other Appmon, it should have made him alerted. And yet, it didn't. Instead, he and Haru rushed in blindly. As Haru's Buddy, it was his responsibility to protect Haru. But he didn't. And now it was his fault that Haru was gone.

"Why would Leviathan want Haru?" Astra asked, now taking a step forward. He stopped until he was next to Eri.

"We do not know." Rei said, looking over to Astra. "But along with my brother, Shinkai Haru has been kidnapped by Leviathan."

Eri shook her head. "But Haru escaped. Right, Gatchmon?" She asked, looking over to Gatchmon, directing him back into the conversation.

Gatchmon looked up at Eri, now remembering what Tarotmon had told him had told him that Haru had escaped from the Appmon who took him, which was Mienumon. It was not too late just yet. Although he still didn't think Haru was safe, he still was not in Leviathan's clutches. Leviathan didn't have him just yet.

At this thought, Gatchmon nodded at Eri and turned to Rei and Hackmon, his eyes flashing with renewed hope.

"Haru is still okay. Tarotmon told me that he is now in the deep web."

Rei narrowed his eyes at this information as Gatchmon continued speaking. "But we can't reach the deep web without the last two remaining Seven Code Appmon."

All Rei did was nod at this. He turned to Hackmon and gave a slight nod to him

"Let's go." He said. Both Rei and Hackmon turned and began to walk up the stairs. Before they could reach the door, Gatchmon's voice stopped them.

"Wait, where are you going?" He asked.

"To find more information." Rei answered, not looking back. Both he and Hackmon returned to walking up the steps and exited the basement. As they disappeared from their view, Gatchmon felt a wave of calmness go through him. Despite not trusting Rei too much, he was going to now. It was clear to him that Rei was worried about Haru, just like how they all were. And although his emotions were masked, Gatchmon could tell that Rei generally cared. Even if all his feelings were mostly directed to saving his brother.

"We should go too." Eri stated, looking over to Astra. "We can't give up."

"Eri-chan..." Dokamon said as he looked up at Eri and nodded at her words.

"Will we? Will we not? Of course we won't give up!" Both Astra and Musimon said together, as they crossed their arms and held their hands out, folding only the two middle fingers in as the rest were pointed out.

"I want to help too." Ai said, as she stood up and walked forward to Eri and Astra. "I want to find Haru-kun."

Gatchmon stared at everyone in silence as they showed that they were not going to give up just yet. Thanks to Rei, they regained hope that they could do the impossible. They would find the Seven Code Appmon and then go to the Deep Web. And they will find Haru before Leviathan does. Even though Gatchmon was no longer Haru's Buddy, he was not going to stop protecting him. Haru was his precious friend. And for that reason, he was not going to stop looking for him. Once he found Haru, Gatchmon was going to make sure he will never be taken from him again. That was a promise he was going to make sure to keep.

"Gatchmon, are you going to look with us?" Eri asked, her eyes gazing at Gatchmon softly.

Gatchmon smiled. It was the first real smile he had made after Haru was taken. Although it was small, it was a start. He looked up at Eri and the others and nodded with determination evident in his gaze.

"I won't give up either." He said.

* * *

"Yuujin, what's wrong, dear?"

Yuujin looked up to see his mother gazing at him from across the table, as she held a tablet in her hands. He sighed, knowing he couldn't hide anything from his mother. She was bound to know he was upset.

"I am worried about my friend." Yuujin answered, his brows knitting into a frown. "I haven't seen him in awhile…"

"I wouldn't worry, Yuujin. I am sure you will see him soon." Yuujin's mother said, her lips curling into a smile. She placed her tablet down and stood up and walked over to Yuujin. She placed her hand on his hair and gently rubbed it as she gazed into Yuujin's eyes.

"Now why don't you wash up as I prepare dinner, okay?"

"Sure, Mom!" Yuujin cheekily answered as his mother took her hand off of him. He stood up and left the kitchen. Once he was gone, Yuujin's mother's smile disappeared into a smirk. She walked over to her tablet and turned it on, watching as a glowing dark red symbol came onto the screen. Upon seeing the symbol, Yuujin's mother looked over to where Yuujin had left, her smirk growing wider at the second.

"After all," She said to no one in particular. "Shinkai Haru is important for Leviathan's plan."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I am struggling so much to find time to write. I'm busy with college and now that I'm going to be starting my new job tomorrow, it's going to be so difficult to sit down and write. Despite that, I'm still going to try. Now on to the subject of Appmon, I'm so sad the anime is ending soon. It was good, while it lasted despite it's somewhat bad pacing. And yet, I still love the characters and story!**

 **ColorlessScythe: Yep! It is!**

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

"Haru, wake up."

Haru groggily opened his eyes at the sound of voice that called him and looked around trying to remember where he was. Once he was fully awake, Haru found his gaze situated on the Appmon that was standing before him, Onmon. Onmon looked too worried in comparison to when Haru had spoke to him earlier.

"What's wrong, Onmon?" Haru asked, sitting up from the mat he had been sleeping on. After talking to Onmon some more, Onmon had told him to get some rest. Haru did not object to that idea. He was definitely tired after everything he had gone through.

"Coordemon and Setmon haven't come back. It's been a few hours already. They wouldn't have taken so long to find information." Onmon said, clenching his teeth at his words.

Haru furrowed his brows in worry. "Do you think something happened to them?"

Onmon shrugged. "I don't know, but I am going to go look for them."

"Then I'll go with you." Haru said, flinching immediately at the glare Onmon gave back at him for his response.

"You can't go with me. They said you would be safest here. Not out there." Onmon responded, pointing towards the door with his hand in emphasis of how dangerous it was for Haru to be out there.

Haru frowned. "But it will be even more dangerous for me to be here alone, Onmon." He argued.

Onmon opened his mouth to respond to Haru's comment, but froze, slowly going over what Haru said in his mind. He hated to say it, but Haru was right. He knew that the Kindergarten would be the last place for Leviathan's followers to go to, but that didn't mean it would be completely safe. If he left Haru alone there and there was an off chance that a follower of Leviathan would to come in, Haru would be completely defenseless. This was something Onmon couldn't allow.

Grudgingly deciding what Haru said made sense, Onmon grumbled. "Fine, we'll go together, but we're going in deguises."

Haru nodded and he followed Onmon to a large chest. Onmon opened it and took out two cloaks, a big and a small one, and handed the big one for Haru to put on. Once Haru had the cloak on, Onmon handed Haru a white mask and helped him hide his hair under the cloak's hood. After making sure Haru was disguised enough, Onmon put on his own disguise and together the two walked out of the Appmon Kindergarten.

The two walked closely together in the illuminated alleys ignoring the stares passing Appmon will give them. There was a few times some Appmon moved towards them as if they wanted to stop them, but each time, they would decide against it. If Haru had to guess, it was because of Onmon. Every time an Appmon looked like they were getting too close to Haru, Onmon would immediately put himself in place between Haru and the incoming Appmon. This would make the Appmon distance themselves away from them.

After walking for awhile, Haru opened his mouth to ask Onmon a question.

"Where are we going, Onmon?" He asked in a whisper, turning his head towards Onmon.

"To the plaza. There's an information broker there that Coordemon and Setmon might have visited."

Haru nodded and continued to follow Onmon. Each alley they walked through became wider until they eventually came to a large area surrounded by building decorated by bright neon lights. Haru stared at the buildings mesmerized by the lights as he walked. Everything was essentially made out of data, the buildings, the lights, and even the sky, but to Haru, it looked so real. It was hard to imagine that sequences of numbers and letters could weave into delicate scenery. And it was hard to realize that while everything felt so real, it could easily be destroyed.

Even him.

"Oof!"

Haru widened his eyes, realizing that he had bumped into an Appmon that had managed to dodge Onmon's radar. He quickly said an apology for accidentally hitting the Appmon, and to his surprise, the Appmon accepted it.

"It is fine, but there must be more you can do than give me a simple apology."

Or so he thought. Haru froze, not liking where the conversation was going. He had thought that maybe there would be an Appmon like Onmon and the others that were kind, but it was obvious that there were not that many. Many of them acted to hurt others, while there were others that acted to exploit others. Haru was quickly realizing that not all Appmon were as good as they seem.

"A simple apology is what you are going to get. It's better than nothing around here." Haru heard Onmon say. Haru couldn't help, but smile under his mask at Onmon's erupt intrusion. Given Onmon's personality, Haru could tell that Onmon had the knowledge of how to deal with Appmon like the one that was standing before them.

"That's not going to cut it. Your friend hurt me. It is only reasonable he should pay up." The Appmon said, taking a step forward towards Onmon almost as if they were challenging him.

Of course, Onmon saw what the Appmon was doing and took a step forward as well. "He is not going to pay up to someone like you. Now beat it."

The Appmon tilted their head and released a short bubbly laugh at Onmon's answer. "Then I have a proposal. I'll let your friend off the hook if you two come with me and play a game with me. It's been much long since I have had company over my place."

"What kind of game?" Haru asked, cutting in before Onmon could open his mouth to tell the Appmon, no.

Upon hearing Haru's voice again, the Appmon looked up back to him from Onmon. "A fun game," they replied. "If you refuse, then I'll just have to tell a couple of friends of mine how suspicious you two are, and that my friends, can mean your deletion."

Haru felt his body shiver at the threat the Appmon just gave him and Onmon. They knew that Haru and Onmon were up to something. And they knew whatever it was, he and Onmon should get ridden of. Despite that, they were willing to let that if he and Onmon went to play a game with them. Yet, that would mean there would be a higher chance of the Appmon finding out that Haru was a human. It was gamble Haru had no idea to make off.

Like Haru, Onmon was thinking the same thing. He knew he couldn't let Haru be exposed to any of the Appmon at Cyber Kowloon. Although there was a high probability that the Appmon would find out that Haru was a human, it was better than the Appmon handing them over to those that would get rid of him and take Haru to Leviathan. Realizing, Onmon decided to agree to the Appmon's terms. He hated the situation he and Haru were now in, but he couldn't abandon Haru. He agreed to protect him at all costs.

"We're in," he glaring, glaring at the Appmon under his mask with anger swarming all around inside him. He did not like this Appmon.

"Great!" The Appmon chirped, sweetly, as if they hadn't threaten Haru and Onmon a few seconds earlier. "Follow me. And do please keep close to me, or I'll have to turn you two in."

Again, the Appmon gave them another threat, which Onmon did not take too lightly. Haru could partically feel the anger seething out of Onmon as they began to follow the Appmon. He wanted to apologize to Onmon, since they were now in this predicament because of him. And yet, he had no idea how to. Yes, Onmon might have been his Buddy now, but that did not change the fact that Haru had no idea how to talk to him. Unlike Gatchmon, Onmon became angrier much easier and acted more upon his emotions than his thoughts. Haru still did not know how to communicate with Onmon appropriately that would help him cast his anger away and focus on his thoughts.

As Haru thought about this in silence, he eventually realized that he and Onmon and the Appmon had stopped in front of a large size building that was decorated in red with a large golden sign decorated with glowing red and black checkered chips. Haru stared at this sign confused. He had not expected the Appmon to lead him and and Onmon to this kind of place.

"After you." The Appmon said, sweetly to Haru and Onmon as they opened the door to the building.

Haru could tell Onmon did not want to go in, and neither did Haru, but they both did. They walked into the building, finding themselves in a complete dark room. Onmon looked around in annoyance and looked back to ask the Appmon where they were.

"Where-" Onmon started to ask, but stopped, realizing that the Appmon was no longer behind them. The door was gone as well. It had been obviously a trap for him and Haru.

Feeling anger coursing through his body, Onmon took a step closer to Haru, while he began to search around for any sign of danger.

"Where are you?!" He yelled after so many minutes of complete silence.

Immediately after Onmon yelled into the darkness, lights from the ceiling switched on blinding both Haru and Onmon. Once they recovered from their blindness, they looked around at their surroundings. They were in a large circular room that had a wheel in the center of the floor. Near the wheel were black and red slots with white numbers on them. Both Haru and Onmon stared at the room in confusion. It was an odd room.

"Tehe! So how do you like my game room?" Asked a familiar voice from above.

Haru and Onmon looked up to the direction where the voice came from, seeing the same Appmon that had threatened them to come looking down at them from a platform high above.

"Game room?" Haru asked, looking around once again. The room did look like it belonged to a game, but he had no idea what it was.

"Yep!" The Appmon said happily. "Since we are going to be playing, it's only best I start out with introductions."

The Appmon took off their cloak and mask, revealing their appearance to Haru and Onmon. The Appmon looked that of a female jester, wearing a black and purple suit vest with a red bow tie. Their hat had an L on the left side, while an H on the right side. What Haru found most surprising about the Appmon's appearance was their lower half. There lower half was a giant ball.

"My name is Vegasmon, and might I ask who you two, suspicious folks are." Vegasman asked, curling her lips in a large smile.

"No one." Onmon answered.

Vegasman frowned, making puppy eyes. "Aww, but that's obviously not true. Your friend next to you is pretty important to not be no one."

Onmon growled, getting in front of Haru. "And how do you know that?"

Vegasmon shrugged. "It was pretty easy to figure out. Your friend is pretty tall to be an Appmon around here."

"Besides," Vegasman added, with a sly smile. "Leviathan sure will be happy to know I've found the one he's looking for."

At these words, Onmon threw his mask and cloak to the ground and gave a death glare to Vegasmon, clenching his teeth.

"Just try it." He threatened, narrowing his eyes. "But I can tell you I won't make it easy for you."

"Onmon…" Haru softly mumbled, surprised about Onmon's protectiveness over him. He hadn't expected Onmon to quickly place him as his top priority. He wondered if it was because of their conversation earlier. That or the fact that Onmon was coming into terms that Haru was now his Buddy. Whatever the reason, it was a big change in Onmon.

"Pfft, as if you can do anything. I'm a Super Appmon and you're a Standard Appmon. This game is going to easily be won by me."

Onmon grinned and looked back to Haru. Haru nodded at him understanding what Onmon was asking for and took his mask and cloak off as well. He took his Appli Drive out of his pocket and held it out, pointing it at Vegasmon, as he looked at her with a determined expression.

"Onmon has me and together, we can beat you." He said.

"Is that so? Well then let's play!" Vegasman called. She snapped her figures and the floor Haru and Onmon were standing on began to move in a counterclock direction. Both Haru and Onmon struggled to keep their balance on the moving floor as Vegasmon gleefully laughed at them.

"Here are the rules to this game. It is called roulette, although it's not your average roulette."

Vegasmon snapped her fingers and a large silver ball fell from the ceiling and dropped onto the floor near Haru and Onmon. It began to roll towards them. Knowing what the ball was dropped to crush them, Haru and Onmon began to run into the opposite. But with the floor moving, it was hard to keep upright.

"This is not a fair game!" Onmon yelled, glaring at Vegasmon as she continued to laugh at Onmon and Haru. Upon hearing Onmon's statement, she immediately stopped and narrowed her eyes.

"Oh really? I am the croupier. You two are simply the participants. It's not my fault you two are unlucky."

Just as soon as Vegasmon finished saying those words, she snapped her finger yet again. Immediately, the ball gained more speed. Seeing that there was no way they could outrun the giant ball, Onmon and Haru moved to the side just in time before it crush them. They watched as the ball stopped onto a black slot as the floor stopped moving.

"Let's see, 26. Hmm, the bet is definitely not in your favor." Vegasmon remarked, curling her lips into a sly smile.

"What bet?" Onmon asked, as he and Haru got off the ground.

Vegasmon placed her hand over her mouth acting as if she was surprised. "Oh didn't I tell you? The number of the slot the ball stops on determines the grand prize you get. And it looks like you two are not starting out too well."

Vegasmon waved her hand and 26 flaming red and black coins appear all around her. She pointed her finger at both Haru and Onmon as she opened her mouth.

"Queen Wheel!"

The flaming coins were sent off to at Haru and Onmon. Wasting no time, Onmon pulled Haru to the side as they narrowly missed getting hit by the round of flaming coins. When the barrage of flaming coins were over, Onmon looked back at Vegasmon, his eyes flashing in anger.

"Enough! Come down here and fight fair, you cheater!"

Vegasmon widened her eyes at what Onmon said, her body immediately freezing. "C-cheater, you say?"

She let out a high pitch scream and jumped off the platform, landing on the large silver ball. She glared down at Onmon with furry present in her eyes.

"How dare you accuse me of cheating! I so graciously given you two the upper hand, but it looks like I'll have to stake the bets in this game of ours!"

Vegasman snapped her fingers and the floor started to move again, this time in a faster pace. Smiling dangerously at both Haru and Onmon, she pointed her hand towards them, and the silver ball began to roll towards them.

"Run!" Onmon yelled to Haru.

The two began to run the opposite direction trying to outrun the ball, but as seconds dwindled by involving running in an endless circle, Haru was quickly realizing that he and Onmon were getting tired.

"Hmm, I bet this ball with crush one of you two in the 20th slot. Want to take that bet?" Vegasmon said sweetly as she giggled in delight.

"As if!" Onmon retorted, pointing his hand at her. "I bet that me and Haru will miss getting crushed!"

"Then let's see who bet stands!" Vegasmon replied. With a wave of her hand, Flaming chips appeared around her and she sent them flying at Haru and Onmon. Onmon immediately turned around as he ran calling out an attack to counter the flaming chips.

"Switch Spark!"

A small orb of golden energy was launched from Onmon's hands and was sent towards the flaming chips. When the orb of energy made contact with the flaming chips, it exploded eliminating the chips. Onmon smiled in triumph as this not paying attention to what was behind him as he ran. There were some flaming chips that had somehow gotten behind him. And Haru noticed this right away.

"Onmon!" Haru cried, taking action as the flaming chips moved towards Onmon. He leapt and grabbed onto Onmon moving both him and Onmon to the side, landing in one of the numbered slots just as the flaming chips hit the ground Onmon had been at. They both moved to get up, but the ball they had been running from changed its direction and now moved towards them with more speed. Onmon realized that he and Haru didn't have enough time to both get out of the slot and so he did the only thing he could do.

He pushed Haru out of the slot. Haru watched in complete shock as Onmon grinned at Haru and disappeared under the ball as it stopped into the slot, causing the floor to stop moving. Haru could barely hear Vegasmon laugh at Onmon's sacrifice as he stared in silence at the unmoving ball. It was his fault Onmon had gotten crushed and now he was gone. And he couldn't do anything to save him, but watch.

"Haha and he thought that his bet would take the win! My bets always win!" Vegasmon stopped laughed and turned her head at Haru, smiling sweetly at him.

"Now since he's taken care of, I'll escort you to Leviathan. I had lots of fun playing with you, but all games have to end. It's time for you to give up and come with me."

Vegasmon got off the large silver ball and moved over to Haru like a cat stalking their. She waved her hand and flaming chips appeared around her, obviously to make Haru afraid of her and obey her. But Haru wouldn't. He couldn't be afraid of her. With all the times he fought with Gatchmon, he couldn't stop being afraid. He had to have courage.

" **Haru! Haru!"**

Haru blinked and looked down at his Appli Drive as the familiar voice called out from it to him. He watched as it glowed and a white glowing chip appeared out of it. When the glowing white light subsided, Haru realized it was an Appmon chip that had appeared out of it. It had a picture of an Appmon he had never seen before and yet, it looked familiar. Realizing this, Haru took the chip into his hands and glared at Vegasmon, who stared at him in surprised.

"I'm not going to give up! My Buddies believe in and so I'll do the same!"

He raised his Appli Drive and called out three words.

"Appmon Chip! Ready!"

Haru moved the circular cover down and inserted the Appmon Chip, sliding the cover over it. The Appli Driver glowed upon the Appmon Chip being inserted into it, and the familiar voice could be heard calling out from his Appli Drive again.

 **"Super Appliarise!"**

Haru watched as an orb of glowing energy formed inside the Appli Drive and shot out of it forming an Appmon he had never seen before. It was a Super sized Appmon that was yellow in appearance and had large hands. Despite looking different, Haru recognized the Appmon in front of him. He had the same blue symbol that was on Onmon's helmet. The Appmon was Onmon.

"H-Haru?" Onmon asked, looking around confused. He looked down at his new appearance and shot back in shock.

"What? What happened to me?!"

"Tch." Vegasmon said. "Queen Wheel!"

She sent the flaming chips that were floating around at Haru and Onmon. Realizing this, Onmon completely forgot about his new appearance and grabbed onto Haru, quickly moving him away from getting hit by Vegasmon's attack. Once making sure Haru was okay, Onmon looked back at Vegasmon and growled, raising one of his hands at her.

"I'm going to put an end to this game!"

The palm of Onmon's began to glow blue and Onmon called out his attack.

"Logi Plasma!"

A blast of blue energy was shot out of Onmon's hand at Vegasmon. She yelped and moved out of the way just in time before the plasma blast could hit her. She looked back to observe the damage of Onmon's attack and gawked at it in fear. Onmon's attack had completely obliterated part of the wall revealing the outside. She shivered and looked back at Onmon and Haru, now glaring at them with anger visible in her eyes.

"I'll be back! And next time, I'll make sure you lose! Leviathan will give me strength to beat you two!"

Vegasmon stuck out her tongue and jumped onto the floor twice. It shook and one of the numbered slots she was standing by opened, revealing it to be a trapdoor. Giving no time for Haru and Onmon to chase after her, she moved towards the opening and jumped into it. By the time Haru and Onmon got to where she jumped in, the small door shut with a snap, locking in place. Vegasmon had escaped.

"That little-" Onmon yelled in anger as he slammed his fist onto the slot Vegasmon had disappeared in. It was now obvious to Haru that Onmon evolving into his Super Grade made him more hot-blooded. And yet, he still could see the most of Onmon's Standard Grade self.

"Oh yeah," Haru said, realizing he didn't know what to call Onmon's Super Grade. His Appli Drive had not call out Onmon's Super Grade's name, which was odd. Despite this, Haru chose to think about it later. He instead looked over to Onmon and asked him a question.

"What should I call you now, Onmon?"

Onmon stopped hitting the numbered slot with his fist and looked back at Haru. He slowly processed Haru's question as he began to think about what he should be called now. He was no longer Onmon, his Standard Grade self. He was a Super Grade Appmon now. And as such, he had a new name. And that new name slowly formed in his head as he made a huge grin.

"Logimon," Onmon said as he took a step forward towards Haru and gestured to himself with his hand. "That is what you can call me."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I apologize for the long delay. I was so caught up with studying for exams and work over the last two weeks that I had no time to write this chapter. And when I did, I found myself not knowing what direction I wanted to go with it. I'm still not satisfied with this chapter, but I don't want you guys to wait anymore. I will try to keep up with updating weekly, but I can't make any promises with how busy my schedule is.**

 **Guest: That he can, which might be useful in the future.**

 **Berry Doyle: Thank you. I'm kind of happy I waited writing chapters for those two months in the summer, because most of the episodes that I have taken details from premiered during the summer. I will work hard to do more research and take more details in account when writing future chapters. And oh I have plans for Yuujin. Great plans, indeed. *Evil laugh***

* * *

 **Chapter 9**

l'm not letting you get away!" Gatchmon shouted at the female Appmon that was moving away from him and the other Appli Drivers and their partners.

They had finally found it. It took some time, but they did it. They had found the last Seven Code Appmon. And at the spur of the moment, the same Appmon that had taken Haru snatched the last Seven Code Appmon out of Gatchmon's hands. But Gatchmon was not going to let her get away this time. If Mienumon got away, so would his chance to find Haru and there was no way he was going to let that happen.

"Give Weatherdramon back to us or I will give you an explosive punch!" Eri yelled, raising her fist at Mienumon.

Mienumon snickered at Eri's words and stopped. She faced the Appli Drivers and the Appmon and held out the Appmon Chip she had stolen from them, sneering.

"Oh, do you mean this chip?" She giggled and traced her finger on the chip with an amused expression. "I'm afraid I can't do that. I can't have you guys going into the Deep Web."

"Where is he?!" Gatchmon exclaimed. He wanted nothing more than to make Mienumon to regret that she took Haru from him, but the fact that she had Weatherdoramon's chip in her hold was keeping him back. She had the upper hand.

"Hmm, he? Do you mean that boy I took a few days ago?" She asked, her smiling growing wider upon seeing the expression Gatchmon made at her mention of Haru. She giggled and twirled herself around, speaking once more.

"If you are still looking for him, then it's only right for me to tell you to stop. Shinkai Haru is gone."

Both Eri and Astra widened their eyes in shock and shook their heads, wanting to disagree with Mienumon. Haru couldn't be gone. He had his friends and mother waiting for him at home. And he had them, his Buddy Appmon and his friends, looking for him. He couldn't be gone when there was so much things that he could have done. It was just not right. The only reason why both Astra and Eri were able to get their Appmon to reach the next level was because of Haru.

Astra, who had been feeling guilt after his father suggested he should leave and train, had no idea what to do. He couldn't leave when Haru needed him and that they all still needed to defeat Leviathan, but he did not want to disappoint his father. But because he met Dreammon, he was able to meet Musimon's Ultimate grade and realize what he truly wanted.

Eri, who truly wanted to win the audition to sing alongside the nine goddesses of Appliyama and Kagurazaka Izumi, felt that she couldn't. She wanted nothing more to, but she felt guilt wishing to do so, when Haru was missing. But after receiving training from Coachmon, she realized that Haru wouldn't want her to give up and instead give it her all, which allowed her to meet Dokamon's Ultimate grade.

Over the last two days, Gatchmon watched as Astra and Eri and their Appmon acquired new strength, allowing them to find the last Seven Code Appmon. He realized that they were hurt just as much as himself and understood now that the new strengths the two acquired were due to their guilt towards Haru being taken. They wanted to save him just as much as himself. Because of that, he would be damned if he allowed Minuemon to take the last Seven Code Appmon away and say that Haru was gone. It was a lie he was not going to take.

"You're wrong!" Gatchmon shouted, his body shaking in both anguish and anger, He pointed at Mienumon as his eyes flashed with fury. "Haru is not gone! He wouldn't give up so easily!"

Mienumon frowned and tilted her head, acting confused. "Oh and why do you say that?"

Gatchmon gritted his teeth. Of course Mienumon wouldn't understand. She couldn't possibly understand how much Haru meant to him. Haru was his Buddy. Before he had met Haru, Haru thought of himself as a side character, someone who should stay in the sidelines of the grand scheme of things. But in his search, Gatchmon saw much more in Haru. Haru was more than a side character. He was a protagonist and he was more stronger and courageous than he thought. And after everything they have gone through together, Gatchmon knew Haru wouldn't let Mienumon nor Leviathan get rid of him. He believed in his Buddy.

"The Haru I know would have not given up easily when you took him. He would have fought till he escaped. That he why I know he is not gone!" Gatchmon growled, watching as Mienumon narrowed her eyes at Gatchmon's response.

But just as suddenly as she began to get angry, she erupted into a burst of giggles. Gatchmon and the others watched her confused as she stopped and smirked slyly. "You are right. He did fight me and escaped, but I wouldn't worry. I made sure it would be easier to catch him next time."

"W-what did you do?" Eri asked, fearing for the worst for Haru. Mienumon was a Super Appmon and Haru was just a human. Without Gatchmon, he was powerless.

Mienumon looked over to Eri and giggled at Eri's fearful expression. "Let's see, now what did I do to him?" She placed her finger under her chin as if she was thinking and smiled. "Oh yes, now I remember. I made sure his cursed contraption wouldn't work anymore."

Gatchmon eyes narrowed in anger. If Haru's Appli Drive was no longer working, that meant he was in a huge amount of danger. But it also could explain why Gatchmon no longer felt his connection with Haru as his Buddy. Realizing this, Gatchmon felt a sort of relief go through him. He was still Haru's Buddy. He was just disconnected from him for the time being.

Mienumon glared at Gatchmon as his face showed renewed hope. She found herself despising it. Her job was to make sure the AppliDrivers would never reach the Deep Web, making sure that they lose hope in finding their friend. But that was not what happened. They had hope now. They had idea what predicament their friend was in and yet, they had the nerve to remain hopeful in front of her that they would find him. It was sickening to Mienumon. She was going to make sure that she made them despair.

"Since it appears you guys won't give up, I'll just have to get rid of you then." Mienumon said, as her left eye glowed beneath her bang. She grinned as her body began to glow brightly. Power coursed through her body as it began to change shape, becoming larger. When the light disappeared, Gatchmon and the others could only stare at shock at what Mienumon had done.

She had turned into an Ultimate Appmon.

"Warudamon, an Ultimate Appmon with strategic ability." Gatchmon said, as he searched up the Ultimate Appmon that was sneering at them. He returned his magnifying glass back to his spot on his helmet as he turned to Astra and Eri, nodding at them to evolve their Appmon. He hated that he couldn't fight alongside Musimon and Dokamon. Despite that, he would give them all the help they needed.

"Right," Eri said as she held her Appli Drive in front of her. "We'll evolve into Ultimate Appmon too!"

"Right!" Astra agreed, as he raised his Appli Drive.

Warudamon laughed. "As if I'll let you do that!"

She raised her hands and two clawed hands with mouths in the palms were released, heading towards Eri and Astra. Dokamon and Musimon immediately placed themselves in front of their partners, protecting them from the clawed hands. They were able to fight them off, but not without receiving a scratch from the clawed hands that had attacked them.

"Dokamon! Are you okay?" Eri asked.

"Yeah, Musimon, are you?" Astra asked as well.

Both Appmons confirmed that they were, but immediately felt different. They watched as a green thread appeared on their injured hand, connecting them to the clawed hands that had attacked them. She snickered as she placed her hand under her chin with a sinister smile. There was no escape for them now.

"This thread…" Dokamon said, as he tried to disconnect the thread from his hand.

"It won't come off!" Musimon added, as he too tried to take the thread off of him.

Gatchmon narrowed his eyes at their statements and turned towards Warudamon with anger evident in his expression.

"Let them go!" he yelled.

Warudamon giggled. "Not until they are finished with you three."

She outstretched her hand in front of her and a wave of pink energy was shot from it towards Dokamon and Musimon. When the pink energy hit them, the two Appmon immediately stopped trying to take the thread off of them. They turned towards Gatchmon and the others in silence, and raised their hands shakily as if they were fighting to keep them down.

"Dokamon? Musimon?" Gatchmon asked, hoping that his friends were okay, but he received no answer from them. Instead, they moved forward and grabbed onto Gatchmon, pulling him forward to Warudamon. Gatchmon fought to get his friend's hands off of him, but he found he couldn't. Together, they were too strong for him to take on.

"Dokamon!" Eri called out in fear for her Appmon. "Please stop it!"

"Musimon! You too! What are you doing?" Astra asked, hoping that Musimon would answer. But he didn't. Dokamon and Musimon said nothing and only continued bringing Gatchmon to Warudamon. Once they were finally in front of her, Warudamon hit Gatchmon's cheek hard. She waited until he got his bearings back from the force of the punch and did it once more, striking him harder and harder each time.

"Stop it! Dokamon, please help Gatchmon!" Eri called out. She couldn't bear to see Gatchmon getting continuously hit, while Dokamon held him in place. She had no idea what Warudamon did to Dokamon, but she couldn't stand watching what was happening in front of her any longer.

"He can't hear you." Warudamon said, her smile growing wider upon seeing the horror in Eri and Astra's expressions. "My thread connects your partners to me. They are my puppets now. They do as I say like good little dolls."

She laughed and placed her finger under her chin in a playful manner as she spoke again.

"Maybe I should do the same to you two. Wouldn't you like to join your friends that you love so much?"

Gatchmon gritted his teeth when he heard this. The pain was excruciating and he wanted to so badly close his eyes, but hearing what Warudamon suggested doing to Eri and Astra made his body shake in anger. He was not going to let Warudamon do what she wanted to them. Since Dokamon and Musimon couldn't protect their partners, it was up to him to do that.

"Leave them out of this!" Gatchmon spat at Warudamon, looking up at her, determinedly.

Warudamon frowned at Gatchmon's outburst. She narrowed her eyes and grabbed onto Gatchmon with her hand, bringing him closer to her face. She sneered at him as Gatchmon glared at her.

"You should have seen the look your friend gave me when I took him," she said in a playful voice, as her eyes twinkled in delight. "It is too bad you'll never see him again."

Warudamon raised her hand to give the finishing blow to Gatchmon, but a loud voice that called from above stopped her.

"Saver Strahl!"

Warudamon moved away from Gatchmon as a beam of light went through the spot she had just been standing at. She cursed at herself for not finishing the job quickly enough and looked up to see who had interrupted her. She was not too surprised to see that it was Rei and his Appmon that had evolved to its Ultimate Grade. They had a flair for always interrupting her fun.

"I restore even the withered cosmos! My name is Revivemon!" shouted the new Ultimate Appmon. His eyes glowed yellow as Rei told him to proceed with another attack.

"Wunder Genesis!" Revivemon shouted.

A wave of white energy was immediately released from Revivemon, engulfing Gatchmon, Dokamon, and Musimon. Gatchmon watched as the light healed his wounds and made the green threads that connected Dokamon and Musimon to Warudamon vanish.

"A restoration move…" Gatchmon muttered as he looked up at Revivemon in wonder.

"W-what happened?" A familiar voice said slowly by Gatchmon. Gatchmon immediately turned towards the source of the voice, sighing in relief upon seeing Dokamon and Musimon acting like their old selves. They were no longer under Warudamon's control. Revivemon had saved them.

"What are you waiting for?!" Rei called out to Eri and Astra in annoyance. "Appliarise your Ultimate Appmon!"

"Right!" Eri said. She looked over to Astra and they both nodded as they raised their Appli Drives.

"Appmon Chip! Ready!" They both called out.

They both moved their Appli Drive's circular cover down and inserted their Appmon Chip into them, sliding the cover over them. The Appli Drives glowed upon the Appmon Chip being inserted into them, as Den'emon's, Haru's grandfather, voice rang out from the small devices.

"Ultimate Appliarise!"

An orb of glowing energy formed inside both of the Appli Drives and shot out of them forming both Oujamon and Entermon. Upon seeing the two new Ultimate Appmon, Warudamon gritted her teeth. She knew she couldn't take all three Ultimate Appmon at once. It was time to retreat.

She turned around and prepared to move forward towards the door that led to the Deep Web, which was not too far away. She immediately stopped though, realizing that Revivemon was blocking her path. She was trapped.

"Finish her, Revivemon." commanded Rei to his Appmon.

"Get her, Oujamon!" Eri shouted to her Appmon as she she made a fist and punched forward.

"Play her your music, Entermon!" Astra told to his Appmon as he pointed his hand at Warudamon, with his middle fingers folded.

""Saver Strahl!"

"Golden Fang!"

"Portées Melos!"

Gatchmon watched as the three attacks engulfed Warudamon in a huge explosion. His face was neutral as he listened to her scream as the three combined attacks ended her. While it was wrong to do so, he was happy that she was finally dealt with. She deserved every bit of pain that she had caused to Haru and to him.

As Gatchmon thought about this, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a small chip being flung out of the explosion towards him. Gatchmon caught it just in time and stared down at what he had caught. He immediately smiled in relief. The chip he had caught was Weatherdoramon's chip. He could finally open the door to the Deep Web.

"Rei, thank you." Eri said, as she turned towards Rei with a grateful smile. "Thank you for saving us and helping us get Weatherdoramon's chip."

Rei simply turned away. "Just get on with it and put the chip into the Seven Code pad."

Gatchmon nodded and he and the others moved down towards the door that led to the Deep Web. Once they landed onto the rocky ground next to it, Gatchmon took the Seven Code pad that was hidden under his hat out. He stared down at it with mixed emotions as Eri, Astra, Dokamon, and Musimon surrounded him. Rei and Hackmon stood to the side, watching them with neutral expressions.

Gatchmon hated that he couldn't save Haru, but now as he stood with the last Seven Code Appmon in his hand, he realized he could finally fix his mistake. He could finally enter the Deep Web with the others, find Haru, and defeat Leviathan once for all. And once he found Haru, Gatchmon was going to make sure he never left him out of his sights again. His Buddy needed him. Gatchmon had failed that once, but he was not going to ever again.

Making that silent vow, Gatchmon smiled determinedly and placed Weatherdoramon's chip into the Seven Code pad. He watched as a bright white light suddenly enveloped the Seven Code pad as a silhouette of a figure could be seen in the light. He smiled knowing who was the figure in the light. It was finally time for Dantemon to wake up and take them to the Deep Web.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: I apologize for the wait. I've been quite busy with college and given how midterms is in about two weeks for me, I need to study as much as I can. Still, I will try my best to write chapters whenever I have the time to. It's difficult though considering I'm putting some of the spare time I do have into drawing.**

* * *

 **Chapter 10**

"Did you see that?! How big I became?! How stronger I was?!"

"Mmm…"

"And the way I sent her packing! Ha! She was too scared to fight me!"

"Mmm…"

"I bet she went crying to Leviathan! Man, I wish I could see that…"

"Mmm…"

"Are you even listening to me, Haru!?"

Haru blinked owlishly and found Onmon glaring at him. He had not realize that Onmon had been talking to him the whole time. After the fight with Vegasmon, Onmon reverted back to his standard grade and they put their masks and cloaks back on. As Onmon led Haru to the place they were originally heading to, he immediately started talking about his Super Grade. Sometime during Onmon's bragging, Haru had subconsciously stopped listening to him, and had instead focus on his thoughts. There were many things that was on his mind.

Haru was confused. He wondered how Logimon's chip had appeared, when an Applink with another Appmon was required for an Appmon to reach the Super grade. Still, despite that, he was happy that it did. If it hadn't, Haru was sure that he would be on a one way to trip to Leviathan by now, while having no idea if Onmon was okay.

"HARU!"

Haru snapped out of his thoughts, wincing at the loud voice that called his name. He turned to Onmon, finding that the Appmon was glaring at him with even more anger mixed with impatience at being ignored.

"Y-yes, Onmon?" Haru asked, hoping that Onmon's rage could be quelled down. Of course, it he knew it wouldn't happen so fast. When Onmon was angry, it took some time for him to settle down.

"Why were you ignoring me?!' Onmon yelled, pointing a finger at Haru.

Haru winced, but immediately replied to Onmon's question.

"Sorry, Onmon. I was just thinking about something."

Onmon dropped his hand. "About what?" he asked, as he took a step forward.

Haru shook his head with a sheepish smile. "It's nothing important." he said.

Onmon narrowed his eyes at Haru knowing that he was lying. But surprisingly, he shrugged his shoulders and looked away. Haru watched as Onmon continued to walk, confused over Onmon's actions. It was abnormal for Onmon to turn away when he had lied to him. But then again, Haru wondered if Onmon had saw noticed the worry that was clear on his expression. He wondered if Onmon knew that he shouldn't pushed him further with questions, knowing that it might make him uncomfortable.

Haru smiled at this thought. Onmon had changed. Compared to when he had first met him, Onmon was much more easier to talk to now. Granted, he still had a bad temper and was headstrong over things, but Haru could tell that like Gatchmon, Onmon cared a lot for his friends. And it was becoming more apparent the more time Haru spent with Onmon that he was beginning to grow soft for him.

"So where are we going, Onmon?" Haru asked, deciding to at least talk to Onmon more. He did not want Onmon to worry about him.

"To see that informational broker I told you about earlier. Hopefully, they haven't left their place."

"Are you sure that they might have seen Setmon and Coordemon earlier?"

Onmon turned to Haru and nodded. "I'm positive. He's the Appmon to see when you need information, the kind you can't easily get."

Haru frowned. "And how will he react when he sees me?"

Onmon laughed. "It'll be fine. He's doesn't care who is asking for the information just as long as he can have something nice in return. Anyway, it'll be fine. He owes me."

Haru raised an eyebrow over Onmon's explanation, but decided to not question any further. He continued to follow Onmon until they eventually stopped in front of a small building that was slightly hidden underneath a flight of stairs by a plaza. Haru watched as Onmon went to the door and knocked on it three times. At the third knock, he stopped and took a step back and waited. A few seconds later, the door opened slightly ajar as a hand slightly hidden in shadows gestured for the two to come in. Onmon smiled and nodded at Haru to follow him and together, they went inside the building.

When they walked inside, Haru was quite surprise by the room they walked inside. Compared to the outside of the building, which looked unwelcoming and dreary, the inside was decorated with warm, rich colors. There was a small sofa in the middle of the room with a table by it with a small vase on it. In the corner of the room was a desk. The only did that felt off to Haru about the desk was the amount of books stacked on top of it. He was curious how the large tower of books hadn't fallen down yet.

"Ahh, what brings you back, Onmon?"

Haru turned away from the desk and watched as the Appmon that had invited them in walked forward to them. He found himself surprised, recognizing the Appmon. The Appmon was a Kosomon, an Underground Gossip Appmon. He remembered meeting some back then with Gatchmon and the others, only the one that was standing in front him and Onmon was different. He wondered if it had to do with the bright, cloak hoodie the Kosomon was wearing.

"I need some information." Onmon said as he took his mask off. "Did two Appmon by the names of Setmon and Coordemon come to see you sometime earlier?"

"Oh yes, those two. They were quite persistent in getting information out of me. Can't say I was any help to those two. The information they wanted was worth a lot."

Onmon rolled his eyes in irritation. "That sounds like you, but I need to know if they said anything about going anywhere else."

Kosomon grinned. "I can tell you, but it will cost you."

Onmon gritted his teeth and stomped forward to Kosomon. "You owe me Kosomon for that one time! You know what happens if you don't keep your word!"

Kosomon snickered, obviously amused over Onmon's outburst. "Of course, Onmon. I was only joking. After all, you are my best customer."

Kosomon turned towards Haru for the first time since they walked and stared at him for several seconds before turning back to Onmon.

"Word around the streets is that a human has come here. I take it that the one standing by you is the human?"

Onmon nodded and turned towards Haru, gesturing for him to take his mask off. Haru nodded, trusting Onmon's judgement, and took his mask off, allowing Kosomon to see what he looked like. All Kosomon did once he saw Haru's face was hummed.

"Never seen a human before. This will be good information to put in my books."

"Hey, you can do that later! Just tell me where Coordemon and Setmon went." Onmon said in irritation.

"As impatient as always, my favorite customer." Kosomon said with slight amusement. "From what I heard, it sounded like they were heading to THAT place."

Onmon growled as Haru furrowed his brow in confusion. He turned towards Onmon and opened his mouth.

"What does Kosomon mean, Onmon?"

Onmon turned towards Haru with a serious expression. "It's a place where Appmon that are considered treacherous to Leviathan are sent to get deleted by a large Worm in front of a crowd."

Onmon frowned and turned back to Kosomon and asked another question.

"Did they say why they were going there, Kosomon?"

Kosomon shrugged, his lips growing wider by the second.

"I've heard that there was going to be a big event there today. Your friends must have thought it may have been connected to what they were looking for."

Onmon gritted his teeth, not liking where Coordemon and Setmon went to. He had been there numerous times and he had seen many times an Appmon get deleted, while the crowd cheered and hollered over their death. It was something he could never forget. He hated not being able to do anything and instead just watch. It was why he kept himself in place and followed the crowd. He didn't want to end up like those who rebelled against Leviathan.

But knowing Coordemon, he wasn't sure how an Appmon like her, who hated Leviathan, would handle such a place.

"Thanks Kosomon. That's all I needed to know."

"Oh, but I have more juicy information, Onmon." Kosomon said, his lips forming into a wide grin. "Information that I didn't even tell your friends, but for you, I'll tell."

Onmon narrowed his eyes. Kosomon was many things, but he never gave any information for free. There was going to be a price. That was how it was in Cyber Kowloon. There was a give and take situation in every business.

"What do you want for the information?" Onmon asked.

Kosomon turned to Haru and pointed at him. "I'll give you the information if your friend can tell me a few juicy details about himself."

"No deal." Onmon answered.. He wasn't going to let Kosomon get information out of Haru. While Onmon trusted Kosomon with some things, he wasn't going to trust him with information about Haru. After all, it was his job to protect Haru now.

"Hmm, not even for information about why your human friend was brought here?" Kosomon asked.

Haru widened his eyes at Kosomon's words. He took a step towards Kosomon, ignoring Onmon's warning telling him to stop, and spoke to Kosomon with hesitance mixed with urgency in his voice.

"Y-you know why I was brought here?"

"Of course!" Kosomon answered. "I am the best Underground Gossip Appmon here in Cyber Kowloon after all."

"Wait, Har-" Onmon started to say, but Haru cut him off.

"I'll do it. What do you want to know about me?"

"Idiot! You don't know what Kosomon will do with information about you!" Onmon yelled in irritation.

Haru frowned and turned towards Onmon, his eyes unwavering in resolve. Onmon clinched his jaw at seeing Haru's unyielding stare and simply turned away, knowing that Haru wouldn't chaneg his mind.

"Fine…" Haru heard Onmon muttered.

Haru smiled at Onmon's answer and turned back to Kosomon. "So what would you like to know about me, Kosomon?"

Kosomon snickered. "Nothing much. I would just like to know information about yourself that you haven't told to anyone."

Haru felt his body tense. He expected that Kosomon wanted important information about him, not the kind that he kept a secret from others. There was some things he did not like to tell to anyone. Sure, Gatchmon found out some of those information from searching Haru up, but there was still other information that Haru made sure to keep hidden. They were too hurtful to bring up.

"Well?" Kosomon asked, smiling at Haru's noticeable discomfort.

Haru gulped and took a deep breath. While he did not liking sharing his personal information, this was a case in which he had to. He needed to know why he was brought to Cyber Kowloon and why Leviathan wanted to obtain him.

"I… I have always thought of used myself as a side character." Haru said, his eyes glancing down at the ground in discomfort. "That thought started when I was little. Everyone in my class treated me differently and often left me out of games and activities. When I began reading books and learning about types of characters. I guess…"

Haru paused as he gripped his arm with his hand. He kept his gaze directed to the ground in fear of seeing the expression Kosomon was making. He also didn't want to see the expression Onmon was making. He was afraid to know what Onmon would think of him.

"I began to think that maybe I was treated that way, because I was a side character. I didn't have the qualifications to be like any of my classmates. They all had talents and skills that made them seem like a protagonist. I didn't have anything like that. I was not athletic nor highly intelligent. I… I was just me..."

"I see…" Kosomon said, oddly sounding sympathetic, once Haru had finished speaking. "That is enough information for me. I will now pay the end of our deal"

Haru looked back up from the ground as Kosomon smiled. He took a few steps towards Haru and took out his hand from the pockets of his hoodie and pointed at Haru.

"Leviathan has a project coming in the works and you are part of it. That is all I know."

"Are you kidding me? That's it?!" Onmon asked, with anger and annoyance. He walked forward to Kosomon and grabbed him by the hoodie, pulling him forward.

"There has to be more that you know! What is this project Leviathan has and how is Haru part of it?!"

Kosomon snickered. He pushed Onmon away from him and straightened his hoodie, as he answered Onmon's question.

"You know more than anyone how dangerous is it to retrieve information that relates to anything about Leviathan. Be grateful that I got this much, instead of nothing."

Onmon clenched his jaw. He did understand. Kosomon was the best Underground Gossip Appmon in Cyber Kowloon. He knew how to get ahold of information that was tightly under lock and key. If he was only able to get the amount of information he told him and Haru, it meant that the information he got ahold of was not supposed to be found out by anyone. If he had to guess, it was top information that was heavily guarded, probably even by Leviathan himself.

"Thanks Kosomon. Sorry, I overreacted."

Kosomon snickered and placed his hands into his hoodie pocket. "It is fine, Onmon. You are my best customer, so I'll forget about your actions."

He paused and turned to Haru, and continued speaking.

"As for you. I suggest returning back to where you came from. What Leviathan has planned for you surely can't be good."

Haru nodded. Together, he and Onmon thanked Kosomon once more and left the building, with their masks back on. They walked over to a deserted alley that was not too far away and stopped there. Once they did, Onmon turned to Haru and spoke.

"Was it true? What you told Kosomon?"

Haru nodded. What he told to Kosomon was things he had never told to anyone. Not even his Buddy and best friend. It was a part of his childhood that he never liked to bring up. Whenever Yuujin would ask why Haru was so interested in side characters and protagonists, he would simply say it was from books. And while it was, there was more to it, more to it that he wished to keep hidden. But now, Onmon knew, an Appmon he had just met.

"Huh… I won't tell anyone then. I can tell it's something you don't want to speak anyone about. I'm sorry that I overheard what you told Kosomon."

Haru felt the tight ball of worry that was squeezing inside of him began to disappear. He found himself relax as his mouth formed into a small smile. Onmon had truly changed. He was no longer the Appmon that was inconsiderate of a human's feelings. He was more caring and concerned about others than ever. And it truly made Haru happy to see this. He was glad that he got to meet Onmon, Coordemon, and Setmon. They reminded him of Gatchmon and his other friends.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here. A traitor and a Human. This will sure to get me me a reward from Master Leviathan."

Both Haru and Onmon flinched and looked up towards the direction where the voice came from. They found themselves staring at an Appmon that appeared like a Frankenstein doctor that yielded two syringes, one purple and one black. He pointed both of them at Haru and Onmon as his mouth formed into a smirk, revealing razor sharp teeth.

"Well then," he said with an amused expression. "Shall we begin my operation on you two?"


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I apologize for the long delay, but it has been a rollercoaster for me since my last update. I couldn't write since I had so many exams to prepare for as well as midterms. But now that is all over, I can finally write some chapters for this story and Eclipse (until finals that is). Anyhow, a huge thank you to those who have stayed patient with me. I will try to update weekly just like before until December.**

 **Aone: Thanks for your enthusiasm. Here's the next chapter. I apologize for the delay, but college come first for me. But don't worry, I'll try to update on a regular schedule until finals.**

* * *

 **Chapter 11**

"So this is Cyber Kowloon…" Eri mumbled as she and the others landed on the roof of a building overlooking the landscape. Surrounding the roof they were standing on were many darkly colored buildings, while several pillars of blue light in the distance seem to stretch towards the dark blue sky. She watched as digital fish swam near them towards a large neon sign. She nor the others hadn't expected the Deep Web to look like a darkly lit city only illuminated by signs. It was odd seeing the place where 99% of the internet existed as in comparison to the Surface Web.

She turned towards Gatchmon, noticing how he was gazing at the city with an impatient gaze. She knew that now that they were here, he was not going to rest until he found Haru. But even then, she was worried about Gatchmon. While she wanted to find Haru too, she understood that searching for him blindlessly in a city as large as the one they were in would not do them any good. Especially when Gatchmon was as more impatient and angry as ever.

She wondered why Gatchmon had not gotten angry when Rei and Hackmon splitted up from them to find information on his brother. She was a bit agitated that he went off on his own, but she understand why. Still, she wondered if Gatchmon understood. She was certain that it was not healthy for him, even if he was data, to be so focused on one goal with negative emotions driving him. It was unsettling for her to think what might happen if those emotions got the best of Gatchmon. She did not want that to happen to him.

"Humans! More humans are here!" A voice suddenly called out.

Eri turned along with the others seeing hooded masked figures jumping onto the roof and surrounding them. They pointed their fingers at her and Astra as they called out in a spiteful tone at them.

"Humans are disgusting!"

"You don't belong here!"

"Let's kill them!"

Dokamon immediately glared at the hooded figures as he placed himself in front of Eri protectively as Musimon did the same for Astra. Eri watched them as they did this and gazed down at her Appli Drive in her hand with a hesitant expression. She knew that she and Astra couldn't evolve their Appmon to Ultimate. There was a time limit. And after that time, they would be too weak to press on further in the city. She had no idea what to do.

Seeing Eri's expression understanding what she thinking, Dokamon turned to Gatchmon with clear worry on his face.

"What should we do Aniki?"

"More humans?" Gatchmon suddenly said, ignoring Dokamon's question. His question caught all the hooded masked figures attention as they stopped approaching him and the others. Gritting his teeth, Gatchmon took a step forward with anger coursing through him as he yelled.

"Where is he?! Where is Haru?!"

All the hooded masked figures backed away in fear and surprise from Gatchmon's outburst. They spoke in whispers, while one took a step forward raising a weapon at Gatchmon.

"We don't know where that human went." The figure said with a snarky tone. "But you can bet we won't let those two humans by you get away."

Gatchmon gritted his teeth angrily. While he was glad that none of the figures in front of him had touched Haru, he hated the fact that they did not where he went. Judging by the size of Cyber Kowloon, it was going to be difficult to find Haru on their own. It would take too long. And time was not on their side. Especially when Leviathan still needed to be stopped.

"It's Minerva! Minerva is back!" One figure suddenly called out pointing a shaky cloaked hand at Eri. Gatchmon widened his eyes and he and the other Buddy Appmons turned towards Eri and Astra seeing that the Seven Code bands that they had just received were glowing bright blue. On the screens flashing was Minerva's mark.

"Run!" Another figure called. Immediately, all the figures turned away in fear and jumped off the roof. Once again, Gatchmon and the others found themselves alone, realizing that they had just been saved by Minerva.

"Minerva's mark… They were afraid of it…" Eri said as she stared at the glowing mark on her Seven Code band's screen. The glowing eventually resided and the mark disappeared making the screen turned dark.

"All the Appmon here must work for Leviathan then." Gatchmon said, turning towards the stairs that led down to the ground.

"Wait! Those were Appmon?" Astra asked, his expression widening in surprise.

"Appmon here wear masks and hoods to hide their identities." Gatchmon answered coldy with very little emotion in his voice.

Eri immediately noticed this and bit the bottom of her lip. She opened her mouth ready to speak her mind to Gatchmon, but stopped hearing her Seven Code band give off sounds, while Astra's did the same. They both looked down at their Seven Code bands seeing a red light appear on the screen flashing at the top right. She and Astra widened their eyes as their Appmon stared up at them understanding what they were thinking. The flashing red light was Haru. Minerva had helped them locate him. They could quickly find them now.

"Haru…" Gatchmon muttered, his eyes watering slightly as he stared at the flashing red dot of light as if it were his lifeline. He rubbed his tears away and stared up at Eri and Astra with a determined expression.

"Let's go find him."

Both Astra and Eri nodded, but Eri frowned slightly. She walked forward to Gatchmon and kneeled down to him, placing her hand on his shoulder as she spoke.

"Gatchmon, please be patient. I know you want to find Haru badly, but you have to be calm. If you won't, I'll give you a huge explosive punch to remind you."

Gatchmon lightly smiled, but Eri could tell it was not full heartedly. Still, she accepted it. She knew if she tried to lecture Gatchmon anymore, it might make it more worse. The only person that could fix things was Haru. He was Gatchmon's Buddy after all.

After Gatchmon expressed his thanks to Eri, the two Appli Drivers and the Appmon set of to the direction of the red dot that was on their Seven Code band's screen. They walked towards the stairs, making their way down, finding themselves in an alley surrounded by shops. Appmons standing at the shops wearings cloaks and masks watched them make their way past them, but none of them made a move to hurt them no longer. Eri was thankful for this. She didn't want Dokamon and any of their Buddy Appmons to waste their energy to evolve and fight them. It was not worth it.

Eventually, the two Appli Drivers and their Appmon found themselves at a bridge that was connected to two exits, one of them leading up to the top floor. Eri glanced around uncertain about the place they were at now. But one glance at her band reassured her that they were at the right place. What they needed to do next was take the exit that would lead them to the top floor.

But before she and the others could do so, they heard screams coming from the other side of the bridge. She turned surprised, watching as Appmons ran out of the exit crying out in fear as a large white creature appeared from around the corner. One of its tentacles wrapped around one of the Appmons and lifted it in the air, destabilizing the Appmon as he cried out in agonizing pain. She could only watch horrified as the Appmon bursted into a rainbow particles, as if it never existed.

"W-what is that?" Eri heard Astra say in shock. Even though she wasn't looking at him, she could tell he was just as horrified as she was.

"A worm." Gatchmon answered, with his magnifying glass over his eye. He placed it back on its spot on his helmet as he continued speaking.

"They're programs that corrupt data."

Gatchmon turned his head over to the other exit that led to the top floor and glanced back at the others.

"We need to hurry and get over there." He said, pointing over to the exit.

Both Eri and Astra nodded and they began to run along with their Appmon towards the elevator. However, before they could reach it, a certain movement caught the corner of Eri's eye. She turned to see the worm moving out of the exit it had appeared out of, diving in towards them. She and the others were forced to duck, barely missing its white tentacles that had been outstretched to grab them. When they all stood back up, she realized that their exit was now blocked by the worm.

"Eri-chan!" Eri heard Dokamon say in fear, watching as he got in front of her protectively. She turned and looked at Gatchmon seeing that he was looking up at the worm with a tense expression. She knew he would do anything to get on that elevator, but she couldn't let him risk his life for that nor Dokamon and Musimon. Especially after knowing what the worm did to that Appmon it grabbed.

"Look out!" They heard a voice call out from behind them.

They all turned seeing a hooded masked Appmon dived towards the worm, spraying red paint at it from it's head. The worm immediately became agitated at this action and directed its attention towards the Appmon raising its tentacles at it. The Appmon narrowly dodged the tentacles and moved away from the worm, as it began to follow it. The two Appli Drivers and Buddy Appmons watched this, realizing that the elevator was no longer blocked. The Appmon was trying to save them

"What are you waiting for?!" They heard the Appmon call out to them as it dodged another tentacle that moved to grab it. "Go!"

Eri didn't want to, but she followed the Appmon's command along with the others. They ran towards the elevator and watched as the Appmon dodged another tentacle. It looked over to them to see if they had listened, causing it to miss the worm's movement. Before Eri could call out for the Appmon, one of the worm's tentacles finally found its target, wrapping it around him. Immediatly, the Appmon cried out in pain as its body began to destabilize. The longer she heard its agony, the more Eri couldn't stand it. Unknownst to her, Gatchmon couldn't either.

He moved out of the elevator giving her no time to react as he ran towards the worm and the Appmon wrapped in its tentacle. He raised his arm as he took a leap at the worm.

"Gatchi Claw!" Gatchmon called out, as his glowing blue clawed hand me its target, causing the worm to cry out as it released its victim. Wasting no time, Gatchmon helped the Appmon up, and together they ran for the elevator as the worm behind them regained its bearings and began to give chase.

"Hurry!" Eri and Astra cried out, fearful that they wouldn't make it.

But they did. They barely made it inside the elevator inches away from the worm's tentacles. When they did, Astra quickly pulled down the gate and Eri pressed the button to go up. Everyone moved to the side of the elevator as the tentacles found their way into the elevator. But as the elevator began to go up, the worm was forced to pull its tentacles back.

No one said a word as the elevator went up. Eri wondered if it was because everyone was still trying to process what just happened. She was afraid when Gatchmon went out of the elevator to save the Appmon. Not because Gatchmon was one of her friends, but because he was Haru's Buddy. She wouldn't know how to explain to Haru when they found him what happened if Gatchmon hadn't succeeded. She wouldn't know what she would do if something like that happen to Dokamon.

Pushing that thought away, Eri took a deep breath and turned over to Gatchmon, seeing that he was silently gazing at the ground. She was sure that he was thinking about what would have happened if he had been caught by one of the worm's tentacles.

"Gatchmon," Eri said, breaking the silence. "Are you okay?"

Gatchmon blinked and looked up to Eri, silently nodded. "Y-yeah, I'm fine."

"Thank you for saving me!" The Appmon that Gatchmon had saved called out from the corner. They all turned towards it as it took off its mask and hood.

"I'm Drawmon, a paint Appmon! I know I had saved you first, but thanks for saving my life as well!"

Eri smiled as she shook her head. "No, we should be thanking you. You risked your life for us."

"Anyway, what are humans like you doing in such a bad place?" Drawmon asked. "Just because you're data now doesn't mean you're on easy street. If your data gets erased, even you humans will die. Don't you know that?"

"W-what do you mean?" Eri asked, as she and Astra both widened their eyes in shock.

"In order for humans to enter the internet, their entire being as a biological life form is converted into information. If that information disappears, your biological self also disappears."

"Seriously, you mean we can die here?" Astra asked in fear.

Drawmon nodded as Dokamon and Musimon stared at Eri and Astra with worried expressions. Knowing that was bound to make Eri and Astra more fearful of moving deeper into Cyber Kowloon. Unlike them, they had lives in the real world and families and friends. They understood that this would be a challenge for them to overcome in the battle against Leviathan and their journey to press on further to find Haru.

"We can't give up." Gatchmon suddenly said, looking up at Eri and Astra with a determined gaze. "We've come this far to find Haru."

"Haru?" Drawmon asked.

"He's a friend we are looking for." Eri explained with a solemn expression. "He was taken by an Appmon that worked for Leviathan."

"I see… And do you have any idea where he might be? Not many Appmon here take kindly to humans." Drawmon asked.

"Why's that?" Astra questioned.

Drawmon glanced down at the ground with a sorrowful look. "They work for Leviathan. Awhile back, right after Leviathan took over everything, it was made a rule that we shouldn't trust humans and despise them. But some of us don't. We wish that things could be changed here, but we don't have the courage to go against Leviathan."

"But I would if I could!" Drawmon said, looking back up at Eri and the others with a small smile. "Would you allow me to help you find a friend?"

"Of course!" Eri answered, happy that they had finally found an Appmon that didn't hate humans. She was glad to see that Leviathan hadn't completely made all Appmons obey it.

"So where are you guys heading?" Drawmon asked, curiously.

Both Eri and Astra glanced over to each other and turned back to Drawmon, showing their Seven Code bands at him. On the band's screens was a glowing red dot, except it was much closer than now.

"We're heading to where this red dot is." Eri answered as she lowered her hand down.

"Given how close that red dot is, I think you're friend must be at Leviathan's hideout." Drawmon said, as he placed his hand under his chin in thought.

"Leviathan's hideout?!" Gatchmon said, his expression widening in fear. Before he could say anything else, the elevator finally stopped and they turned seeing that they were at a new path. Astra narrowed his eyes and opened the gate, while Eri looked over to Gatchmon knowing that he was thinking about the worst what was happening to Haru.

"Gatchmon," she said, snapping him out of his thoughts and causing him to look up at her. "Don't give up or I'll give you an explosive punch."

Gatchmon stared at her in silence for serveral seconds and gave a slight chuckle. "Sorry." He mumbled as he looked back to Drawmon with a small smile.

"Drawmon, do you want to help us find my Buddy?"

"Of course!" Drawmon said with a smile.

Gatchmon smiled and together, he and the others moved out of the elevator towards the direction the red dot was at on Astra and Eri's bands. As they got closer to the flashing dot, the faster they moved until eventually they broke into a run. They ignored their surroundings not caring that they were open for attacks from any of the Appmon that were there staring at them. Only one thing was on their mind and that was to find Haru.

They finally found themselves at a rectangular field surroundings by buildings. Eri and the others stopped, breathing heavily as they looked around hearing voices of Appmons that could be seen in the windows and balconies of the buildings screaming with hate at them. Eri bit the inside of her cheek and glanced down at her Seven Code band, hoping that they had made a mistake. But they didn't. They were at the spot the red dot on her band's screen was flashing at.

"Drawmon, what is going on here?!" Gatchmon yelled with anger noticeable in his voice.

Eri looked up from her band and watched as Drawmon suddenly turned and sprayed paint at them. She and Astra barely missed them, noticing that Drawmon was now gazing at them with burning hate.

"I hate you two! I hate humans!"

"Y-you are working for Leviathan the whole time?" Astra asked, narrowing his eyes at the thought they had been trick.

Drawmon simply laughed, confriming it. "Yes! Of course I was! As if I would work with humans! After all, Leviathan isn't someone you can take on easily!"

"That's right you human scums!" An Appmon shouted from one of the balconies.

"Humans would just keep abusing us in the past…" Another Appmon shouted.

"But thanks to Leviathan, we are free!" A few Appmon shouted, raising their fists to the sky.

Drawmon smiled at these cheers and pointed its finger at Eri and the others. "You have no place here in this world, so your data is about to get erased!"

Gatchmon gritted his teeth as he and the others noticed the gate that was near them began to shake as loud sounds could be heard being made inside of it. They watched as the gate shook and crumbled as gray smoke appeared from the debris. When it finally lifted, they found a huge worm with a shell on top of it staring at them coldly with its large slithering tentacles. They could only stare at the worm as it leered over them in horror realizing one thing.

They were in trouble.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: I was going to post this chapter last night, but I was busy with some things. I actually have the next three chapters planned, which is quite a feat since I suck at planning. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter because things are taking a different direction.**

 **Aone: No worries, Haru appears in this chapter. I can't say when they are going to meet Haru, but it will be soon. As for Yuujin, yes, he will appear as well in the future.**

 **Rockster: It's fine. I don't expect anyone to review every chapter. To be honest, it's always nice to see a review now and then since Appmon isn't exactly popular. So thank you for taking your time to do that. Now for Ai. I agree with you that she definitely deserves a Buddy Appmon of her own. When she found out about Appmon, it felt like it would have been a good time for her to get her own. When she didn't, it just felt unfair to me. Especially since Yuujin got his own. Now the possibility of her getting an Appmon in this fic? I don't want to spoil too much, but let's just say I'm going to make things fair for her. Den'emon did help make Logimon's chip for Haru. He used the data of Gatchmon that was stored in the Appli Drive to make the chip appear. Yes, Gatchmon does know about Haru's secret, but he understands that it's something of Haru's past that he doesn't like talking about. And considering how Gatchmon cares so much about his Buddy, he won't bring it up to Haru. Yeah, I do think Haru deserves more love. Sure he was different, but it was a refreshing changefor a Digimon series to have the main character to be so different in comparison to the other past leaders. And thank you! I wanted to extend more things in this fic to make things more sense and to bring more ideas into light. I actually extended more lore in the chapter as well. As for who fused Cameramon to become Scopemon? I do dislike that they left things unanswered. As such, you can probably expect me to answer this in a later chapter in the future.**

 **Berry Doyle: No problem! And Gatchmon will be fine. At least until he finds Haru.**

* * *

 **Chapter 12**

"Haru, watch out!"

Haru turned around just in time to see a spiral of purple liquid heading towards him. He quickly moved to the side just as the liquid splattered onto the spot he had been standing at. Haru watched paralyzed as the purple liquid began to disintegrate the ground leaving a small dark hole. If Logimoon hadn't warned him, Haru was sure that what happened to the ground would have happened to him.

"Logi Plasma!"

Haru looked up from the ground seeing Logimon sending a blaring stream of blue energy from the palm of his hand at the Appmon that had attacked them. Just a few minutes earlier, he had introduced himself as Docmon and that he was working for someone that wanted to have both Haru and Onmon in their possession. Haru knew that whoever wanted them couldn't be good, so he quickly evolved Onmon into his super grade. They both had tried to make their escape, but it was proving to be difficult with Docmon spraying the purple and green liquids from his syringes everywhere at them.

"Spiral Trigger!" Docmon shouted with a wide grin as he lifted his two syringes pointed at Logimon's attack. The purple and green liquids were launched from the large syringes and intertwined with each other forming a spiral. It met head on with Logimon's heated blue plasma, disintegrating the attack and only leaving small gray clouds of smoke behind. Both Haru and Logimon stared wide-eyed at this understanding one thing: they needed to escape now.

"Heh, I can already see the fear in your eyes and we haven't even started the main operation." Docmon mused with a mocking smirk. He took a step forward and pointed the green syringe at Logimon and the purple syringe at Haru.

"I wouldn't want to hurt my patients further before the main operation, so how about you two come with me willingly? My boss is looking forward to meeting you two."

"As if we will!" Logimon shouted, pounding his fists together in anger. "What does your boss want with us anyway!"

Docmon chuckled, his razor teeth flashing. "My boss works for Leviathan and he is interested to see what he can do with another human as one of his patients as well as a rebellious Appmon that became a human's pet."

Logimon growled at Docmon's comment as his fists started to glow bright blue. Understanding what he was about to do, Haru put his hand on one of Logimon's fists. He knew that Logimon couldn't attack blindly anymore. It was too reckless. It was obviously that Docmon was different than the other Appmon they had fought.

Upon the contact with Haru's hand, Logimon's fists immediately stopped glowing. He turned towards Haru and gazed at his eyes for several seconds in silence before turning back to Docmon. Haru hoped that him calming down meant that he now understood that he had to fight differently.

"Haru and I are not going to come with you. So you can tell your boss he'll be having to see another patient." Logimon said, his eyes narrowing as he raised his fists.

Docmon frowned. "That was not the answer I was expecting. It's a shame, but I'll be having to put you two to sleep."

Docmon sneered and once again laughed the acidic liquids at Logimon and Haru. He expected the liquids to make contact with them and disintegrate some of their data. While it would mean hurting his patients before his boss got their hands on them, it would give him an excuse to perform an operation. It had been so long since he had any patients. The ones he had before succumbed to the pain of the operations. It would be interesting to see how a human would react to the pain.

However, what Docmon had not expected was for Haru and Logimon to make their escape. Before the liquids touched their targets, Logimon grabbed onto the wall next to him and pulled it tearing part of the wall out. He turned and threw that portion of the wall at the liquids, grabbed Haru, and ran inside the opening in the wall. Docmon moved to follow them, but heated blue energy was suddenly sent from inside the opening towards the ceiling in the opening of the wall and collapsed it, blocking the path.

Docmon stared at the blocked path with a wide grin. He had been outsmarted. Based on the research he had gotten, Logimon was supposed to be a hotheaded Appmon that dared not run from fights, and yet this one just did. All thanks to the human. Docmon was now sure than ever that he had to perform one of his signature operations on the human. It would be a waste not to. Deciding that, he turned and walked towards the stairs that led to a different path. He was not going to let those patients escape.

Meanwhile, after so much time spent running, Haru and Logimon finally stopped to catch their breath. The two were now in a small alley connected to stairs and a small building on the right below the stairs. Seeing that it was probably the best place to hide for now, Logimon grabbed Haru's wrist without any warning and began pulling him towards the building.

"Wait, Logimon what-" Haru started to say, but Logimon cut him off.

"We're going to lie low in this building until that mad doctor Appmon gives up on bringing us to his boss. Whoever he is, I'm pretty sure he is bad news."

Haru nodded silently. He watched as Logimon clumsily turned the small knob on the door and pushed it gently. Surprisingly, it was unlocked. The two entered the building finding that it was completely dark. Logimon narrowed his eyes with distrust and raise his fists, making them glow bright blue. Like candles, they chase away some of the darkness bringing some light into the room, allowing the two to see what was in the room.

There were piles of papers littered everywhere on the floor with a chaired knocked over by a small table by the corner of the room. What struck interesting to Haru was a small bookcase that stood on the other side of the table. While many of the books were stacked until only, there was proof that they had been recently used.

"Eeep!" A high pitch voice suddenly cried from behind Haru and Logimon. They quickly turned expecting to see a large Appmon ready to attack them, only seeing a small shaking Appmon staring at them with large fearful eyes. The Appmon had the appearance of a robotic hamster. His large round ears were glowing a dim blue, while his dark black eyes conveyed fear along with curiosity. In the small Appmon's hands was a book. Judging by the amount of books he saw in the Appmon's bookshelf, Haru had to guess that the Appmon had to do something with books.

"W-what are y-you d-d-doing in my home?" The small Appmon squeaked holding his book out in front of him slightly covering his face. Haru suddenly felt guilty seeing this. They entered the small Appmon's home and made him terrified. It was not right fair for the small robotic hamster Appmon.

"We apologize for entering without your permission, but we were being chased and we had to find a place to hide. Your home was the first place we saw." Haru tried to explain in a gentle, soothing voice. He hoped that speaking softly would help make the small Appmon less afraid of him and Logimon.

"B-but why are y-you here? H-humans belong up t-there." The Appmon squeaked pointing his finger up at the ceiling, gesturing towards the ceiling. Haru understood what he meant. He belonged in the real world.

"Look, we are not going to explain everything. We were being chased and we need a place to hide for now. You either help us or I'll make you." Logimon said in an impatient tone.

"Eeek!" The small Appmon yelped at Logimon's words. Before giving Haru and Logimon a chance to respond, the small hamster dove between the two and headed towards the table, diving under it and not coming out.

Haru immediately glared at Logimon for what he said to frighten the small Appmon more and walked forward towards the table. He slowly kneeled down and in a gentle voice, he tried speaking to the small Appmon that was hiding from them.

"Please don't be afraid. If you want us to leave, then we'll do that. It's not fair that we entered your home without your permission."

Haru waited for the small Appmon to respond. He waited for a few minutes in silence hoping that the small Appmon would speak to him. But the more time he waited, the more he realized that the small Appmon did not want to speak with them anymore. He sighed solemnly and moved to stand up and move back to Logimon, but a barely audible voice that came from under the table stopped him.

"P-please don't go"

Haru widened his eyes and turned around back at the table seeing the small Appmon slowly coming out of it. Although he was still frightened, Haru could tell there was a new emotion present in the Appmon's gaze.

"I-I want you to stay. I-It would be wrong for me t-to turn you away."

"Are you sure?" Haru asked as he slowly took a step forward. The Appmon did not flinched to this gesture and instead slowly nodded its head.

"I am T-tutomon. Welcome to my home."

Haru smiled and gestured to himself with his hand. "I'm Haru."

He turned towards Logimon and gestured to him. "And that is-"

Haru was suddenly cut off as Logimon body began to glow brightly. The white light illuminate his body and his form began to shrink. When the light disappeared, Onmon now stood at the spot Logimon had been with a slightly tired expression.

"Onmon," He said. He took a step forward towards Haru. Haru stared at him as he did this noticing the slight grimace Onmon made as he took the step. Onmon could not hide this from him.

"Onmon, are you okay?" Haru asked as his eyebrows furrowed in worry.

Onmon looked up at Haru and quickly nodded his head, hating the way Haru was looking at him worriedly. "Y-yeah. Just a little out of breath. It takes a lot out of me when evolving Logimon. J-just let me rest for a few."

Haru nodded not liking that Onmon was out of energy, but he decided to not press any further. Unknownst to the two, Tutomon was staring at them with large eager eyes. He had been afriad of them, but now he was starting to see that they were nice, which was completely different to all the interactions he had before in the past with other Appmon.

"Um…" Tutoman started to say shyly, as Haru and Onmon looked back at him. He took a deep breath and spoke once more.

"Can I ask some questions?"

Both Haru and Onmon blinked, saying nothing. Upon their deafening silence, Tutomon immediately gazed down at the ground with a sad expression. He should have expected this. Of course they were not going to speak to him. He was no good Tutomon. No other Appmon ever wanted to speak to him since he was a defective Appmon of his kind.

"What did you want to ask us, Tutomon?" Tutomon suddenly heard Haru say. Tutomon blinked and glanced up at Haru in shock, as Haru gave him a gentle smile. Next to him, Onmon was frowning, but Tutomon didn't care. Haru actually wanted to listen to him.

"A-are you sure? I-I'm defective. No one likes to listen to me."

"Defective?" Haru asked, confused.

Next to Haru, Onmon's frown deepened. "It means he doesn't behave like he's been designed to." He explained as he looked up to Haru. "Each Appmon represents a particular app and naturally, we follow that app's function. However, there are times when an Appmon doesn't follow what they've been designed to do. Those Appmon are what we call 'defective'".

Haru nodded in understanding and turned back to Tutomon with a sympathetic expression. This was the first he had heard of an Appmon being 'defective', but he was not surprised by it. It made sense that some Appmon would not follow their app's function. They weren't just programs. They weren't just digital programs. They were 'alive' beings. They had emotions and feelings that made them behave like that of humans. And as such, it would be natural for them to not do what that designed do. They had the freedom to do that.

"Tutomon," Haru said in a gentle voice. "What app do you represent?"

"Commentary." Tutomon answered softly. "Tutomons are suppose to be extroverted, fearless, eager, and confident in their abilities to give explanations over topics, but.."

"Those are things you're cleaarly not." Onmon finished.

Tutomon nodded and sighed. "There's not very much 'defective' Appmon here like me, but those that are here are treated like outcasts. We are disobeying rules and… Some Appmon think it's just not right."

"But that's not right." Haru suddenly said, with anger noticeable in his voice.

Haru realized that here was no different than back at his home. If someone was seen as different, then they were treated differently than others. This had happened to him numerous of times. It always hurt him knowing that he was the outcast among his peers. He was clumsy, shy, unathletic, and a bookworm unlike the other kids his age. When Yuujin became his friend, it gradually became better, but Haru could tell he was still the outcast.

There was even a time when he overheard talks amongst his peers of Yuujin becoming his friend out of pity. Naturally, Haru never told Yuujin. He didn't want him to worry nor defend him. Over the years, Haru accepted what he was called as behind his back and instead retreated back into the world of books. It was only because of Gatchmon and his new friends that he realized that being different was absolutely fine. It did not mean that he was an outcast, but that he was being his truest self.

"Tutomon, you're not 'defective'. You're you. That's something that you should never be ashamed of." Haru spoke as he walked forward to Tutomon. He kneeled down to him with a soft smile.

"So be confident in yourself. I think you can be the best commentary Appmon there is."

Tears started to gather in Tutomon's eyes as he gazed at Haru's bright blue eyes in wonder. No one had ever told him to be confident in himself, let alone give him words of encouragement. They either always ignored him or told him to disappear, while making fun of him. But Haru had not said anything like that. He actually liked him and suggested to be the commentary Appmon only he could be.

Tutomon broke down into tears at that thought and burrowed himself into Haru's arms. Haru smiled and rubbed Tutomon's head gently with his hand as he allowed the Appmon to cry. Nearby Haru, Onmon watched with a mixed expression. He was surprised by Haru's words, but understood why Haru said those things now knowing that Haru was most likely treated like Tutomon. He was becoming thankful that he met Haru because now, he was slowly learning what it meant to feel alive. Haru was teaching him that among other things he never understood.

Eventually, Tutomon stopped crying and moved himself out of Haru's arms. He smiled cheerfully at Haru as he wiped the last of his tears away from his eyes.

"Thank you so much, Haru! I'm glad I got to meet you. But umm…" Tutomon fidgeted and shyly looked down as he spoke. "Why are you here?"

Tutomon cheeks suddenly turned bright red as he glanced up at Haru in embarrassment at what he asked. "I mean not that I'm happy you're here, but isn't it dangerous here for humans?"

"An Appmon working for Leviathan brought him down here." Onmon answered as he moved forward, so that he was right next to Haru. "Leviathan is up to no good and whatever he has planned involves Haru somehow."

"A plan?" Tutomon asked.

Onmon nodded. "And right now, a lot of Appmon are after Haru. It's my job to make sure he stays safe."

"Oh? But it looks like you may fail in that job." A familiar voice said behind Haru and Onmon.

Haru and Onmon widened their eyes and turned around seeing Docmon smiling mischievously at them. Onmon glared at him as he immediately moved in front of Haru, protectively.

"How did you find us?" Onmon seethed.

"Why I always find my patients. Especially if they're due for an operation." Docmon said, with a slight chuckle.

"Now than," he said as he aimed his syringes at them. "It's time you two stop this senseless running and come with me."

"Haru!" Onmon shouted at Haru. Haru nodded and took his Appli Drive out ready to insert Logimon's chip into it. Seeing this, Docmon smirked and launched the purple liquid out of his syringe at Haru.

"Haru!" Onmon yelled as he shoved Haru out of the way. Haru felt himself hit his arm on the ground from the force of the push. As he recollected himself and looked back up, he felt his body freeze with shock at the scene before him.

Surrounding Onmon was a large spiral of the purple liquid. Haru watched horrified as Onmon stared back at him with a tight expression. Haru knew that if Onmon touched the liquid, the liquid would burn his body like acid. He couldn't let that happen to Onmon. Judging by Onmon's expression, Onmon understood what Haru was thinking.

"Oh dear, it seems like we have come into quite a pickle. If you don't want your friend to be in a great amount of pain, I suggest you hand over your Appli Drive to me, my human patient." Docmon said, as he grinned.

Onmon glared at Haru and shook his head. "Don't you dare, Haru! That device is the only thing that's protecting you from Appmon like him."

"I can't let you get hurt, Onmon!" Haru retorted not looking back at Onmon. He gripped his Appli Drive in his hand and walked forward to Docmon. Once he was close enough, he held out his Appli Drive out to him for the Appmon to take.

Before Docmon could take it though, it was suddenly taken by someone else. The two turned shocked as Tutomon now had the Appli Drive in his hands with a determined expression. It was an expression Haru had not seen Tutomon have before.

"This doesn't belong to you! It's Haru's!" Tutomon shouted, as he gripped the Appli Drive tighter in his hands.

"You're not on my list, so it seems I'll be having to get rid of you." Docmon replied coldly. He raised one of his syringes at Tutomon and called out his attack.

"Spiral Trigger!"

The green liquid in the syringe was launched at Tutomon. Tutomon stared as the spiral of green liquid moved closer to him, making no move to get out of the way. He knew that he would not be able to move out of the way in time. Instead, he held the Appli Drive closer to his body as he silently closed his eyes, awaiting for himself to end. He was 'defective', so this should be the right thing for him to do after all.

"Tutomon!"

Tutomon snapped his eyes opened and turned seeing Haru launching forward and grabbing onto him as they both barely missed getting touched by the acidic green liquid. They both slid on the ground until Haru hit the wall with his back hard. Tutomon immediately tried to check on Haru, but Haru's soft gaze made him freeze.

"Tutomon," Haru said in a whisper, just barely enough for Tutomon to hear. "Take my Appli Drive and go."

"B-but-"

"Please," Haru cutted in quietly, handing Logimon's chip into Tutomon's hand. "Look for us when you find two Appmon called Setmon and Coordemon."

Tutomon bit the bottom of his lips, wanting to decline. He felt helpless. He wanted to save Haru and Onmon from Docmon, but he was too weak and powerless to do so. And now, because of that, Haru wanted him, the weak one, to escape. How could he do that and leave his new friends, who made him feel alive. He couldn't do that. No, he didn't want to do that. Not to them.

"Haru, I-"

"Spiral Twister!" Docmon called out again.

Haru narrowed his eyes and shoved Tutomon out of the way before he could be touched by the green liquid. With horror, Tutomon stood up and saw Haru encased in the spiral of the green liquid. He took a step forward to help Haru, but Haru's sharp voice made him stop.

"Go Tutomon!"

Tutomon flinched at this as Docmon's shrill laughing rang throughout the room. Regret and guilt began to fill Tutomon's mind. He wanted to save Haru, but Haru wanted him to leave. Despite the fact he wanted to so badly not do so, he knew he must. It was the only way to get help to save Haru and Onmon.

With tearful eyes, Tutomon took steps back and turned and moved to run. He heard Docmon behind him launching another torrent of the green liquid at him, so in a hurry, he moved to a small hole in the wall he had dug himself for cases of emergencies. He barely felt the heat of the attack touch his tail as he made it inside the hole. He did not stop though. He continued to run. He ran through the dark passageway, taking sharp turns, until he saw the opening. When he came out of the passageway, he was now on the roof of a building slightly far from his home. He stared at his home with hopelessness as he looked at Logimon's Appmon chip and Haru's Appli Drive in his hands.

Silently, Tutomon made a vow to himself that he wasn't going to think of himself as 'defective' any longer. Haru believed in him and so he was going to be the best Commentary Appmon in Cyber Kowloon. And to repay his kindness, Tutomon was going to keep his promise to Haru. He was going to find Setmon and Coordemon and then save Haru and Onmon. It was the right thing to do.

Deciding that, Tutomon turned and began to walk towards the stairs that led to the ground. It was time to start his search.

In Tutomon's home, Haru glared at Docmon as the spiral of green liquid surrounding him disappeared. Docmon walked forward towards him as behind him, Onmon shouted for him to get away from Haru, while making threats. Docmon ignored the angry small Appmon and instead focused his attention on Haru. Once he was close enough to Haru, he raised his syringe and pointed it at Haru's face as he smiled.

"Goodnight, my patient."

Haru widened his eyes as he felt the syringe hit his head hard, causing his to body to slam to the ground. As Haru blinked to look back up at Docmon, he realized he was now seeing dark spots in the corner of his vision. In the distance, he could barely hear Onmon shouting in an uncontrollable rage, making threats that Haru couldn't make out. It was difficult to understand though, like he was listening from underwater. He tried to move his hands to push himself back up, but found they were nonrespondent. He was becoming more drowsy by the second, while his vision was becoming more dark. Yet, Haru fought to keep his eyes open. He had to save Onmon. He couldn't allow Docmon to take them. But the more Haru fought, the more nice it felt to just go to sleep. Eventually, Haru couldn't fight it no longer and allowed his eyelids to close. As instant regret resounded in his mind, he allowed his consciousness to be pulled into the comforting hands of sleep.

After that, everything faded into black.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I am really surprised by the amount of views this story is getting. Makes me nervous about future chapters, since I don't want to let my readers down. Anyhow, thank you to all that have favorited, followed, and reviewed this story. I'm happy that you're enjoying these chapters so far. On that note, I'm hoping to update two chapters next week, since I am on a short break from college. I won't make any promises, but that is my goal for next week.**

 **Aone: I know! Poor Haru, but I had to cause some pain for the poor child. As for if Tutomon will meet Gatchmon and the others first, this chapter will answer your question.**

 **ColorlessScythe: I will try to update on a regular schedule, but there are going to be times when chapters have to delayed. I do hope that is okay.**

 **trashyistrash: Hehe! Sorry, but you're going to have to wait a bit longer to see what has happened to Haru. Hopefully, Docmon hasn't done anything to him yet by then. And thank you! I don't consider myself talented with writing, but its nice to see that you think so. And yes, Haru is going to get two angsty overprotective Ultimate Grade Buddies. I can't say when though.**

 **Guest: By his special skills, do you mean his ability to turn things on? If so, yes, he will be using this ability in a future chapter. Right now, he hasn't been using it since there hasn't been a reason for him to use it.**

* * *

 **Chapter 13**

The moment Eri and Astra tried to appliarise their Appmons into their Ultimate grade, the moment the Worm moved its tentacles at its new victims.

Eri screamed as one of the Worm's white tentacles wrapped around her torso and lifted her up to the air. The searing pain that erupted from the contact with the white tentacle was unbearable. It started at her torso, but soon traveled throughout her whole body pulsing in waves of intense agony. Amongst the pain, she soon felt her body beginning to grow tingly with each passing second as she began to lose feeling in her legs. Forcing her eyelids to open, Eri glanced down and saw her legs were fighting to stay attached to her body. With horror, she realized that it will soon be her whole body that will be fighting to not disappear into bits of particles of data like what she had seen to that unfortunate Appmon earlier.

"Eri-chan!"

Eri looked down and could barely see Dokamon alongside Gatchmon in her cloudy vision dodging one of the tentacles as Dokamon looked back up at her with immense worry. His expression suddenly brought comfort to her despite the fear of dying that was taking root inside of her. She realized that she would take on the burning hot pain that was gnawing at her inside her if it meant making sure Dokamon wouldn't experience it. She couldn't let Dokamon die.

"Astra!"

Eri turned slightly to her right, finding it hard to move her head, and saw Astra being lifted with one of the Worm's tentacles wrapped around his ankle as he cried out in pain. Below she could hear Musimon calling out an attack. She watched as six brightly colored musical notes hit the tentacle. But when the smoke cleared away, the large white tentacle still had Astra in its grip. It did not release him.

Eri bit her bottom lip as the searing hot pain suddenly began to grow dull. In the far distance, she could hear Dokamon fighting to make the tentacle release her as the crowd began to erupt into cheers, but the ringing in her ears was beginning to drown all that away. All she could hear now was her thoughts. She hated that she could not do anything. She hated that they had been double-crossed by Drawmon. She hated that they couldn't find Haru. And worse of all, she hated that in the end, she couldn't think of making others smile. What use was that when she was dying.

"Eri-chan! Please don't leave me!"

Eri widened her eyes at Dokamon's sudden plea that echoed in her thoughts as tears began to appear in her eyes. How could she think of leaving when she still had so many things to do. She had to become an Idol to brings smiles to all. She had to find Haru and make sure Gatchmon did not lose himself. She had to fight Leviathan and protect humankind. But most of all, she had to experience everyday with Dokamon. Her Buddy, her best friend, was the one whom she could not stand leaving. Since the day she had met him, Dokamon had always protected her. Now, she wanted to do the same for him.

Near her, Astra screams of agonizing pain began to subside as his body began to feel like it was breaking into pieces. He dared to open his eyes to see what his body was looking like, finding that his arms were fizzing in and out. Below him, he could see Musimon calling out to him as he could hear the crowd of Appmon cheering. Astra paid no attention to their hate and instead focused his attention on his Buddy. He was afraid. As he was in pain, he could hear Musimon fighting to make the white tentacle release him. But no matter how Musimon tried, the Worm wouldn't let go. And the longer he was in the Worm's grip, the more it felt like he was losing every bit of his biological self.

It was scary to think that he was dying, but he knew that it was the absolute truth. What was even more scary for him was the idea that he would be leaving his parents and friends behind. Astra wondered how he could 'feel it', when death and fear was over clouding his mind. He didn't know how exactly how he could 'feel it' when Haru was still out there lost and that Leviathan still needed to be stopped. But most of all, he didn't know how he could 'feel it' when Musimon was gazing at him with such a worried expression and calling out to him to hang on.

Since the day he had met Musimon, Astra had never felt much more alive despite the paths that had been set for him to take. Musimon helped changed much of his world and helped him believe in the importance of freedom and expressing emotions. He helped him go down the flow, which was something Astra had thought he could never do.

"Astra, don't give up!" Astra heard Musimon call out.

Astra gritted his at this. How could he think that he didn't know how to 'feel it' it at the situation they were in. It was exactly why he had to. His Buddy, Musimon, was counting on him to feel the flow. And so Astra was not going to give up on that. As long as he was still living, he was going to continue to 'feel it' with Musimon.

With renewed determination as they realized what they wanted to do, both Eri and Astra moved their limbs slowly as they tried to reach for their Appmon. They were not going to give up yet. They were not dead yet. They would continue fighting to live for everyone and themselves.

"Fitting Arrow!" A female voice suddenly called out from close by.

Two pink arrows suddenly shot out from amongst the crowd hitting each tentacle that held Astra and Eri. They heard the Worm screech out in pain as its tentacles release them, sending them falling towards the ground. When they hit the ground, their Appmon wasted no time to run to them. Astra laughed as Musimon jumped onto him and hugged him, while Eri simply enveloped a tearful Dokamon into a hug. Gatchmon ignored this as he looked everywhere in the crowd to see where the two pink arrows had shot from. Someone had helped them and he wanted to know who exactly did.

"What are you doing? Run!" The same female voice that helped them called out.

Eri, Astra, and their Appmon turned to where the voice came from seeing a female Appmon jumping off from one of the balconies with her bow and arrow pointed at the Worm. She launched the arrow at it as she turned towards them with an irritated expression.

"Hurry, while I distract this Worm!"

"Who are you!?" Gatchmon questioned, narrowing his eyes at the new Appmon. He didn't trust her. They had trusted Drawmon and he ended up betraying them. The Appmon standing in front of them could do the same.

The female Appmon narrowed her eyes in impatience at Gatchmon's question and answered as she shot another arrow at one of the tentacles that moved to grab her.

"A friend!" She called out.

Upon her answer, the crowd of Appmon on the balconies erupted in anger, calling the female Appmon a traitor. They shouted down at her rage and cursed at her for saving humans. Gatchmon watched this with a mixed expression, quietly observing the female Appmon's reaction to their words. She did not pay attention to them, ignoring the hate that was now being directed on to her. Instead, she directed her attention on the Worm shooting arrows at it as it continued to try to grab her. She dodged a tentacle sliding under it and stopped, turning to point her bow at the Worm that screeched at her. She glared at it with a determined expression.

Seeing her expression, Gatchmon realized that she truly wanted to help them. He wasn't expecting this considering that many of the Appmon there only wanted to cause them harm. It made him wonder if there were others like the female Appmon in front of them that were not at all spiteful towards humans. Regardless, he was going to put his trust in the female Appmon. If she was a friend, he was not going to run away, while she would fight for them. It was wrong.

Near him, both Dokamon and Musimon moved away from Astra and Eri and stared at the female Appmon with uncertainty. She claimed that she was their friend, but they were hesitant to believe her. Trusting Drawmon, who have saved them earlier, only placed their Buddies in danger. They didn't want to take their chance with the female Appmon in front of them. And yet, part of them did. She had saved Eri and Astra. And unlike most of the crowd, she showed no malevolence and hate towards them with her eyes, only kindness. That had to at least meant that she could be trusted partially.

Behind Dokamon and Musimon, Eri and Astra made up their mind. They were going not going to run. They were going to fight. The female Appmon gave them another chance to do so. If they couldn't defeat the Worm in front of them, then what chance did they have in defeating Leviathan? They had to overcome this obstacle.

Deciding this, they both held out their Appli Drives, as they took out Dokamon and Musimon's Ultimate chips out.

"Appmon Chip Ready!"

They both moved their Appli Drive's circular cover down and inserted their Appmon Chip into them, sliding the cover over them. The Appli Drives glowed as two familiar orbs of glowing energy formed inside of them. They shot out of them towards Dokamon and Musimon, enveloping them. When the light cleared away, Oujamon and Entermon now stood at where Dokamon and Musimon once were.

"Give that Worm an explosive punch, Oujamon!" Eri shouted, as she punched forward with her fist.

Next to her, Astra raised his fist as he shouted at Entermon. "Show that Worm our flow, Entermon!"

Hearing their voices, the female Appmon turned as she dodged another white tentacle and gazed at the two Ultimate Appmon in wonder and fear. She had never seen Appmon as large as them. She could tell that they were powerful. She watched as they jumped from the ground and called out their attacks, bracing herself for the destruction that would be likely caused from them.

"Golden Flame!" Oujamon called out, releasing a lion shaped aurora engulfed in bright yellow flames at the Worm.

"Porte Melos!" Entermon called out, firing four rainbow-colored, energy music staffs at the Worm.

Both of their attacks struck the Worm head-on, ceasing its movement. It stopped moving its tentacles towards the female Appmon and it exploded into thousands of rainbow-colored particles as black smoke appeared. The rainbow of particles slowly danced in the black puffs of smoke as the crowd of Appmon on the balconies stared at them paralyzed with shock. They made move nor any sound. They were too shocked at what happened. The strongest Worm in Cyber Kowloon had been defeated by two Appmon, Appmon that were partners to humans. It was a disgrace to them.

The female Appmon eyed the crowd, her mouth forming into a satisfied smile. It was about time the Worm had gotten destroyed. Too many innocent Appmon had been deleted by the Worm, forced to be a spectacle for all Appmon to see and laugh at. She was glad that this senseless place could now be put to an end. And it was all thanks to those she had been trying to save.

She looked over to the Ultimate Appmons as they landed onto the ground and reverted back to their standard grade. She watched silently as the humans ran over to their partners and hugged them, while one watched them, not making a move. She stared at him, taking note of the bright red color of his helmet. It reminded her too much of Haru and his sweater. Judging by the Appli Devices the two other humans had in their hands, the group had to be Haru's friends. And the Appmon she had been staring at had to be his partner, Gatchmon.

" _ERRRRR! ERRRRR!"_

Eri and Astra turned as a loud sound could be from nearby. In the distance in the sky, they could see Appmon with bright red sirens on top of their heads, flashing like beacons. They pointed their hands at them as they came closer.

"Intruders Found! Intruders Found!"

Behind them, the female Appmon scowled and raised her bow. Wasting no time, she shot a few arrow at the approaching Appmon and quickly turned towards Eri and the others.

"Quick! Follow me!"

She turned and began to run towards the exit that was now busted open. She didn't turned to see if the humans and their Appmon followed her. She could tell that they were by the loud footsteps that could be heard behind her.

Eri, Astra, and their Appmon continued to follow the female Appmon as she led them through the alleys, taking turns from every direction. THe sirens could be heard behind them, but with each turn they took, it began to subside. Eventually, they could no longer hear the sirens behind them. Still, they kept running, following the female Appmon. She had helped them and they were willing to trust her to lead them to safety.

Just as it seemed like they were running in an endless cycle of twists and turns in every path they came upon to, the group came across of flight of stairs by a canal. The female Appmon walked over to a small opening underneath the flight of stairs and gestured for Gatchmon and the others to follow her. With doubtful gazes, they followed her into the opening, hoping that it wasn't another trap.

What they had not expect was to see another Appmon staring at them. He was smaller than the female wearing a mask with three eyes and a shawl. Despite his appearance, his eyes expressed kindness. He moved over to Coordemon, who walked forward to him with a smile.

"There you are Coordemon," the Appmon said in a humble voice with worry in it. "I was worried that you had gotten hurt in that dreadful place when you told me to go away."

He turned to look at Gatchmon and the others and looked back at her. "I must say though, I did not expect for you to come back with so many others."

"Who are you two?" Gatchmon interrupted, narrowing his eyes. He opened his mouth to say more, but two distinct beeping sounds that were coming from Eri and Astra"s Seven Code bands made him stop. He turned to them as the two looked down at their bands, seeing that the glowing red dot was right next to them. Their expressions immediately became confused as they looked around. Haru was nowhere in sight.

" _Beep! Beep_!"

They turned towards Setmon seeing him take out a familiar white band underneath his cloak. It stared at in confusion as its screen glowed brightly with a red color. Gatchmon widened his eyes, recognizing the band. The Appmon band was Haru's and it was in he hands of an Appmon he did not know.

"Where did you get that!" Gatchmon yelled out, taking a step forward. He was immediately stopped by an arrow that shot right past him that hit the wall. He turned with a scowl seeing Coordemon glaring at him, pointing her bow and arrow at him. She stepped in front of the male Appmon as her eyes narrowed on her target.

"Take one step closer and I'll make sure that I won't miss this time." She growled.

"Now Coordemon, that's no way to talk to them." The male Appmon said. He walked forward and stopped next to her as he continued speaking.

"My name is Setmon. And this is Coordemon." He said, as he gestured to Coordemon, who still had her weapon pointed at Gatchmon.

"You can trust us. I can assure you that we won't hurt you." He said in a soothing voice.

"Why do you have that band?" Eri spoke up, pointing at the the white band that had stopped glowing.

Setmon looked down at it and softly chuckled. "Oh yes, Haru gave this to me. He asked me to fix it, but after everything that happened, I never got the chance to do so. It seems it's working now."

"You know Haru?" Gatchmon asked, his body immediately becoming relaxed. All his anger and the tension in his body washed away. Coordemon noticed this and lowered her bow as she turned to Setmon and nodded at him.

Setmon nodded and moved to Gatchmon. He handed the white band to him as he spoke. "Yes, we do know your friend. He is safe, I can assure you."

"Where is he? Can you take us to him?" Gatchmon asked, with impatience. He wanted to so badly see Haru. He wanted to make sure that he was okay and then apologize to him for his mistakes. He wanted to make sure his Buddy knew that he was never going to let him out of his sights again.

"We can take you to him." Coordemon said. "But then you must all leave. It's too unsafe for Haru to stay here any longer."

"Why is that?" Eri asked.

Coordemon frowned. "Leviathan's henchmen has already tried to take him to Leviathan. Given how Cyber Kowloon is too close to the dark web, it's only a matter of time before Haru gets taken."

"I won't let that happen!" Gatchmon retorted, his eyes burning with determination. Coordemon stared at him in surprise at his reaction and smiled softly.

"You remind me of him. I bet you two would get along really well."

"Who?" Gatchmon asked confused.

"Someone who is protecting Haru right now." Coordemon explained, her eyes softening at that thought. She shook her head and clipped her bow behind her back as she gave them an earnest smile. "Alright! We'll take you to him! It's only right that Haru sees you guys. He has some memory loss, so maybe you guys will be able to help him too."

"Memory loss?" Astra asked, his brows furrowing in worry.

Coordemon nodded and walked past them to the entrance. She looked around and looked around. Once she had made sure that no one had followed, she turned back to them, gesturing for them to follow her.

"Come on. Setmon and I will explain on the way what Haru told us."

Gatchmon nodded and moved to follow Coordemon with no hesitance. He was glad that they were finally going to find Haru. He became worried when Coordemon explained that he had memory loss, but Gatchmon knew that he would be able to help Haru bypass that once they find him. All that mattered now was making sure that they get to Haru before anything bad happened to him.

His only hope was that Haru was still safe by the time they reached him.

* * *

Rei glared at the Kosomon in front of him, who willingly gave him information he had been looking for. Initially, he was going to trick the Kosomon by giving him information about secret funding and scandals of every leader in every country, while Hackmon would hack him, but the Kosomon did not accept his offering. Instead, he snickered and handed the information over to him, something Rei had expected him to do.

Hackmon quickly pulled up the information that was given to them, finding the file on Hajime. It was the file Rei had wanted to see. In the file, there was experimental data collected on a technique that changes the human, their soul, into computing data, completely changing their shape. And that was technique was first executed on his baby brother, Hajime. Hajime no longer looked like the Hajime he knew.

At first, Rei denied it. His brother couldn't be reconstructed into a different shape, not after having spend countless days and nights looking for him. Hajime didn't deserve that. He was his baby brother. Rei was suppose to find him and bring him home. Nothing wasn't suppose to happen to Hajime. He didn't want to accept that.

In a rage, Rei knocked down all the books that had been laid out around him on the selves, not caring that he knowking over Kosomon's property. He was angry at himself. It was his fault that Hajime had been kidnapped by Leviathan and now, his baby brother no longer existed. He couldn't stand the thought that Leviathan had harmed Hajime, who never had anything to do with what happened. His precious only family was stolen from him, ripped from his life. And it was all because he couldn't protect him. What kind of big brother was he?

"Are you still up for finding him?" Hackmon asked, breaking the silence.

Rei's body tensed as he grabbed his head with his hand. Of course he was up to still finding his brother. He had to bring him home. If he didn't, then everything he had done so far would be for no reason. Despite knowing what happened to Hajime, he knew he still had to find him. That was his duty as Hajime's big brother.

"Am I still up to finding him?" Rei seethed with anger towards himself for being too late. "No matter what form he's in now… Or wherever he is in the Deep Web… I will find Hajime."

"No matter what the cost!" He said as he looked back at Hackmon, his eyes burning with determination.

Hackmon simply stared at Rei as Kosomon, who stood next to him snickered. Rei glared at him, but before he could tell Hackmon to shut Kosomon up, the Appmon took out a small black flash drive from out from the pocket of his hoodie and threw it over to Rei, who caught it in confusion.

"That flash drive contains some top secret information I've found about your brother and Shinkai Haru's involvement in what Leviathan has planned. I didn't give it to him when he visited me earlier since I don't think he is ready to see that information."

Rei was surprised to hear that Haru had come to see Kosomon earlier, but did not open his mouth to ask why Haru was there.

"Why are you giving me this?" Rei instead asked, with immediate distrust in his voice as his eyes narrowed at the small Appmon.

Kosomon simply shrugged and grinned widely. "I like your determination. Besides, I think I can trust you with the information in that flash drive. I am the best underground informant here, so you can trust that the information I just gave you is true."

Rei studied Kosomon in silence for several seconds and nodded. He turned as he shoved the flash drive into his pocket. He looked towards Hackmon and nodded at him to follow him.

"Let's go, Hackmon."

The two walked out of the building as Kosomon thanked them from behind for coming. While he didn't want to say it, he was grateful for Kosomon for giving him information about Hajime. Now he would have a lead on why Hajime was taken from him. So long as Hajime was still alive, he was never going to stop looking for him. He was going to find Hajime and make sure Leviathan pay for the harm he caused to his only family. That was a promise he was not going to back off from ever so long as he was alive.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: I apologize, but unfortunately, I couldn't write two chapters this week. I was busy spending time with family over break and since my professors began updating assignments, I had no time to write the fifteenth chapter. That and there were shows I wanted to catch up on. Anyway, I will try to update next week, but given how I have two exams next week, I think it might be not possible at the moment. At the most, I will probably not be updating in the next three weeks. I have final exams coming up and I want to start preparing for them. But if you guys have anything you want to suggest, pm me. I will get back to you within a day. Oh and heads up, I'm planning to wrap this arc up by chapter 20. After that, we'll be heading into the arc involving Yuujin, Ai, and the confrontation with the Ultimate 4. I'll leave it up to you guys for any ideas on what you want to see in that arc.**

 **trashyistrash: Yeah, I definitely see Coordemon as a mom haha. And oh boy, if you think the next chapter is going to be full of angst, just wait for future chapters. The angst train is only going to go up further from here. And yes! #Gatchmon and Onmon overprotective buddies. I can definitely see that scene you have in mind. I can see all the antics the two will get into just to keep Haru safe.**

 **Berry Doyle: At last, and it only took about 14 chapters. And yep, Ai is going to get the proper attention she deserves. I already have decided what her Buddy Appmon will be, but until its reveal, I'll leave it up to you and others to guess on what her Appmon is.**

 **Aone: Generally, I feel like Haru's part is what the large portion of readers here care about haha. Anyway, here it is and sorry for the wait.**

* * *

 **Chapter 14**

The first thing Haru noticed when his consciousness began to return to him was how weak and numb his body felt. As he climbed out of the foggy darkness and slowly opened his eyes, he found himself squinting at a bright light from above. Slowly, he sat up himself up, so that he wasn't staring at the bright light no longer and gazed around. Despite his vision being slightly hazy, Haru tried to study his surroundings.

He took note of how unfamiliar and cold the room he was now in felt. It's bare padded white walls made him extremely uncomfortable, as if they were closing in around him. The floor was the same color and padded as well, but it wasn't a soft fabric. It felt like some type of plastic covering foam. Across of him in one of the walls, Haru could make out a door. Above the door was a small window with grey bars going through it. Unlike the blaring light that was shining above him, the light that could be partly seen in the window was soft and warm. He wondered if that light was allowed in the room on purpose just to make him feel less hopeless. Knowing Onmon, he would most likely be trying to find a way out of the room Haru was now in, instead of just sitting around and staring at the walls.

Haru widened his eyes at that thought as everything suddenly came flashing back to his mind. He shot right up, wincing at the aching sharp pain the movement caused to his head. He tried it ignore though and quickly moved towards the door. The fact that he was alone in a room with Onmon nowhere in sight told Haru that Docmon had successfully captured him and Onmon. Haru's brows furrowed in worried at this thought. Docmon was an Appmon that he didn't trust. He was afraid of the things he would do to Onmon. Haru knew that he had to escape and find Onmon before Docmon did anything bad to him.

Just as Haru was about to place his hand on the door, that was when he noticed it, something hard was wrapped around his right ankle. In fear, he glanced down at his ankle, finally noticing the ankle cuff that was locked around his ankle, connected to a chain that extended to one of the wall. In horror, Haru slowly walked over to the wall that was connected to the chain as his thoughts began to become muffled. Shakily, he wrapped his hands around the chain and began to pull, hoping that it would come off. After a few minutes of getting no results, Haru forced himself to take his hands off the chain. The chain simply wouldn't bulge from the wall.

Silently, Haru sat down and turned his head with remorse at the cuff around his ankle. He placed his hands on it and began to fiddle with it, trying everything he could possibly think of to take it off. After many minutes of nothing but failure, Haru stopped. He placed his hands back to his side and instead opted to stare at the cuff around his ankle. It was small and had circular dots that glowed light blue around it. A glowing blue shackle was connected to the cuff that the chain was fastened onto. By the shackle, Haru could see a dimly small lit screen. Seeing how technological the cuff was, Haru wondered if he could even take it off by force.

Eventually, after many minutes of messing around with the cuff with no results, Haru sighed in defeat. He moved himself by the one of the walls and allowed his head to rest on it as he quietly thought to himself. He had no idea how to escape and given how he was chained to the wall, he knew he wouldn't get too far. This meant that he was considered valuable to Docmon. He didn't want him trying to escape. He didn't understand why though. Docmon didn't make it like he was taking him straight to Leviathan. In fact, now that he remembered, Docmon was trying to catch him for his boss. He wondered who his boss was exactly.

Haru moved to massage his temple and winced at the sharp pain that pounded against his temple upon his touch. He brought his hand against his side as the pain in his head continued to vibrate. If Haru could look at his temple, he was sure that there was a dark bruise on it. Docmon had hit him pretty hard.

" _Click_!"

Haru jolted up at hearing the sound and turned to see the door opening. He expected Docmon to be the one who opened the door, but instead, a different Appmon had opened it. Standing at the opened door was a female nurse-like Appmon wrapped with bandages, wearing a hat that had the symbol for a heartbeat on it. In her hand, she carried a clipboard. She looked down on and back up at Haru, and smiled.

"Are you Shinkai Haru?"

Haru nodded. The female Appmon's smile grew wilder at his answer and she walked forward to him and stopped by him, kneeling down at him.

"My name is Aidmon, and I will be your nurse until your scheduled appointment."

"Appointment?" Haru asked.

Aidmon nodded. "You have an appointment with Docmon. Don't worry. It will be a just a regular check-up. He has to make sure you're healthy enough to be taken to the Dark Web."

"Dark Web?" Haru asked. He had a feeling that it was a place he shouldn't go to.

Aidmon's smile grew wider as her left green eye glowed in excitement. "Yep! Leviathan lives there. Biomon will be picking you up soon after your appointment to be taken there. You should consider yourself lucky Haru-kun! You'll be the first human ever to go down in the Dark Web!"

Haru frowned. This was bad, but something he should have expected. At least he didn't have to worry about Docmon performing an operation on him. He had the appearance of a crazy doctor, so his operations were probably most likely very painful. Still, it didn't explain why Docmon wanted Onmon along with him.

"Do you know where my friend is?" Haru decided to ask. "His name is Onmon."

"Oh yes, Onmon. He came out of his appointment awhile ago. He caused quite a fuss though during it."

Haru widened his eyes. "Please, can I see him?!" He asked, fearing for the worst.

Aidmon, blinked in surprise at Haru's outburst and nodded cheerfully. "Of course! As long as you don't cause a fuss. Docmon hates it when his patients act of line."

She took out a small device from the pocket in her white dress and pressed the button on it. In effect, the chain that was connected to the cuff around Haru's ankle snapped off. He stared at the chain as it laid still on the ground feeling a surge of relief go through him. He hadn't realized he had wanted the chain off of him so badly.

"Now then Haru-kun, before we go out, there are a few things you must know." Aidmon said. She pointed at the cuff on his ankle that was still glowing.

"First, that ankle bracelet you have on won't harm you unless you step foot out of this facility. The only ones that can take it off is either me or Docmon."

She dropped her hand back to her side and looked back up at Haru. "The being said, you shouldn't try to go outside. The bracelet will disrupt your biological data and that can be painful. You also need to know that you shouldn't try to disrespect any of Docmon's rules. Even though you are our guest, you are still his patient. As such, the rules still apply to you."

She clapped her hands together as she turned towards the door."Now let's be off!"

Haru nodded hesitantly, unsure of her enthusiasm. He did not expect to see an Appmon like Aidmon working with Docmon. Unlike him, he could see that Aidmon was much more kinder. Oddly, despite the situation he was in, that kindness made him less afraid. It helped him feel more reassured that he would find a way out with Onmon.

Silently, Haru followed Aidmon out of his 'room' into a brightly lit hallway that was painted in light blue and green. She led him down the hall as he stared at the colors around him finding comfort that it wasn't all painted white. He had enough of seeing that color everywhere in the room.

After walking in silence for many minutes, Haru decided to break the silence and ask a question that had been on his mind.

"Aidmon, who is Biomon?"

Aidmon stopped and turned towards Haru with a large smile. "Biomon is the head doctor of this facility. It is said that there is no patient he cannot cure. He is also one of Leviathan's four top trusted generals, the Ultimate 4."

Haru furrowed his brow in confusion. "Ultimate Four?" He asked.

Aidmon nodded as she began to explain. "Yep! The Ultimate 4 are considered to be the strongest Appmon here. After Leviathan of course. They follow only Leviathan and destroy anyone that opposes him. But don't worry Haru-kun, I'm sure Biomon wouldn't harm you."

Despite Aidmon's reassurance, Haru was sure that was probably not true. Still, this was the first time that he had heard anything about the Ultimate 4. He wondered why they had been chosen by Leviathan. Were they that powerful that Leviathan saw them fit to be his generals?

"And we're here."

Haru looked up from his thoughts finding that he and Aidmon were now standing in front of a door. He hadn't realized that they had even continued walking. He had been too absorbed in his thoughts to even notice.

Aidmon lifted her hand and knocked on the door three times as she called out to the occupant in the room.

"Onmon, you have a visitor."

She pressed two buttons on the keypad that was right next to the door and it opened slowly. She looked back at Haru and took a step away from the door, so that he could enter it. Slowly, he moved his body to the doorway and entered the room. Like the room he was in earlier, the walls and floor were padded in white with the only the light source being the small lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. In the middle of the room sitting on the ground was Onmon sitting on the ground with his back turned towards Haru. Oddly enough, he wasn't chained to the wall like Haru had been.

"Onmon?" Haru asked, hoping for a response. He waited for a few seconds for Onmon to say something, but he received no response. Fear began to take root in his mind as the tight ball of worry in his chest began to grow. His heart pounded rapidly as his thoughts began to make one thing clear to him: Something was wrong.

"Onmon, are you okay?" Haru asked as panic began to set in. He couldn't hold himself back no longer and walked forward towards Onmon, kneeling down to him. Shakily, he placed his hands on Onmon's shoulders and turned him so that they facing each other. What he saw immediately made him jump back instinctively as his eyes widened in horror.

Onmon started back at him lifelessly like he was a doll. His bright blue eyes were devoid of emotion and now shined helplessly at him. His eyes were locked straight at him, but Haru could tell that they weren't really focused on him. Onmon was right in front of him, but he did not react like he was. It was as if his mind was somewhere else.

"W-what happened to him?" Haru asked, as he turned back to Aidmon.

She took a step forward into the room and hummed to herself. "This is what happens when patients don't behave. Docmon locks their mind away and their body is all what's left. Do not fret Haru-kun. The effect does not last that long. It's just enough, so that the procedure can be done."

Haru furrowed his brows with sight anger towards Docmon. Docmon didn't have the right to do such a thing to Onmon. It was wrong of him to lock Onmon's mind away just so that he could a procedure on him. Onmon nor any other Appmon did not deserve that.

"What was Docmon trying to do to him?" Haru asked, as he turned back to Onmon and placed his hand on his helmet.

"Docmon was trying to see if he could reconstruct Onmon's data. You see, Biomon had found a way to change a human to an Appmon, so Docmon wanted to see if he could change an Appmon to a different shape without 'evolving' them.

"But how would that affect Onmon?!" Haru asked, turning his body so quickly back to Aidmon that it caused her to jump back in surprise. When she regained her composure, she found herself hypnotized by his bright blue eyes. They were hardened and narrowed at her now with seriousness and anger, but behind all that, she could see a distinctive trait in his eyes, something she did not see too often.

Aidmon shook her slightly shaking her thoughts away and focused on answering Haru's question

"I have no idea how Docmon's procedure will affect Onmon." She answered, frowning. "I wasn't informed of the specifics of the procedure Docmon is trying to conduct. I only know the basics."

"But if you want, I can find out for you Haru-kun. I want to help my patient in any way I can."

Haru blinked, surprised at Aidmon's words. She was completely different than that of Docmon. She was kind and seemed to look out for her patients. While he hadn't trusted her initially when they had met, she was proving to him that she had a big heart. After all, she was willing to look into information that Docmon probably didn't want her to see, just for him. It was not expected.

"Why do you work for Docmon, Aidmon?" Haru questioned. "It doesn't seem like you would work for someone like him."

Aidmon let out a soft giggle, but Haru could tell it wasn't as heartily as earlier. "Of course I would work for Docmon. He found me when I was all alone. I was thrown away by humans like many of the Appmon here after I had been repeatedly abused. It hurt so much, but then Docmon came and gave me a chance to do what I love, helping others."

"But are you really doing that, Aidmon?" Haru insisted, gazing down at Onmon with guilt. "Docmon is hurting others and you're helping him do that."

Aidmon shook her head. "No, that is inaccurate. Docmon has been helping all the Appmon that had come to him for help. The only times he had hurt patients were when they were not listening to him."

"Don't you think that is wrong?" Haru argued. "Look what he did at Onmon…"

Aidmon slowly gazed down at Onmon just as Haru told her to and stared at his unmoving body. He was still lifeless. His eyes stared unmoving at a point at the wall, unfocused. She remembered when she came to get him for Docmon earlier and witnessed how loud and reckless he was. He attacked the walls nonstop, while calling out for Haru and making pointless threats. It was difficult for her to bring Onmon to Docmon. He wouldn't comply and she had to be forced to wrap her bandages around him and drag him away. But there was a point when she had found herself hypnotized by his eyes. They were full of energy, full of life, things she had forgotten seeing in her patients in a point of time. And to see those very same eyes now so dull and lifeless, it nerved her. Bit she had idea how to respond. Docmon was her savior. He took pity on her and allowed her to work him. She couldn't question his actions or that would mean her being tossed out.

"Haru-kun, we should go." Aidmon decided to say. "I need to get you ready for your appointment."

Haru wanted to say no to Aidmon. He wanted to stay with Onmon and find a way to get him back to himself again, but part of him knew that if he said no, Aidmon would probably find a way to drag him away. There was no point in trying. Even though Aidmon was kind, she still followed Docmon. Haru had a feeling if Docmon found out what Aidmon had done for him and was trying to do for him in that matter, she would be severely punished. He couldn't let that happen to her.

That was why he forced himself to take his hands off of Onmon and stood up. He gave one last look to Onmon making a silent promise that this wouldn't be the last time he would see him and turned, walking forward to Aidmon. She happily took his hand and guided him out of the room. Haru watched as she turned and moved to close the door, feeling a lump grow in his throat. Onmon would have fought to stay with him and yet, here he was leaving him willingly. To Haru, it might as well looked like he was abandoning him.

After Aidmon made sure the door was securely locked, she took Haru's hand into hers again and led him down the hall once more. Haru silently followed her as he observed each path they took. He was not going to give up. He was going to find a way out of the facility with Onmon. They had to escape.

Eventually the two stopped in front of a door. Aidmon opened it and led Haru inside of it. Haru expected the room to be like the rooms he was in before, but to to his surprise, it had the appearance of a regular exam room. It had an exam table in the end of the room with cabinets lining up on one of the sides of the room. Hanging on the walls Haru could see medical equipment, but they were not the kind that would be used to cut into something. The medical equipment hanging on the wall consisted of a regular stethoscope, otoscope, and ophthalmoscope. It irked him how the exam room he was now in could be just as regular in appearance as the ones in the real world.

"Come on Haru-kun." Haru heard Aidmon say as he felt her pull him into the room. She pulled him to the exam table and made him sit on top of it as she turned back and went to one of the cabinets. He watched silently as she pulled out a blood pressure cuff and a thermometer and walked back to Haru. She made Haru take off his sweater and wrapped the cuff around his exposed upper right arm. As she checked his blood pressure, she inserted the thermometer into his mouth. Haru stared at Aidmon awkwardly as she checked his vital signs. It really did feel like he was getting a regular checkup if he just ignored the fact he was getting a checkup in the Deep Web by an Appmon.

After many minutes of nothing but staring at the wall awkwardly, Haru felt Aidmon take the equipment off of him. He turned his head to her and saw her setting the equipment down and writing things on her clipboard. When she finished, she looked back up him with a cheerful smile.

"Good news, Haru-kun! You are healthy! I was worried that you're vital signs would be below since it made have been stressful for your body when you were converted into data to come here, but it appears you are fine."

"W-what does that mean?" Haru asked hesitantly as he put back his sweater on.

"It should mean that it will be okay for you to go to the Dark Web! Aren't you excited?! It means you get to see Leviathan! It's such an honor to have the chance to meet Leviathan!"

Haru wasn't quite that what Aidmon said was correct considering that it was advised to him multiple of times that Leviathan was the one he should be staying away from, but he said nothing. Instead, he lowered his head to the ground deep in thought. He wondered how long he had before he would be taken to the Deep Web. He had to find a way to get the cuff off his ankle and figure out how to escape with Onmon. They had to soon.

"Haru-kun?"

Haru blinked and looked back up, finding Aidmon gazing him closely with her green eye. She took a step forward and placed her hand under his chin as if she was studying him.

"Are you okay?"

Haru flinched upon her contact, but reluctantly nodded. "Y-yes, I was just thinking about Onmon."

Aidmon released her hand from Haru's chin and placed her clipboard down. "You seem to think about your friend so much. What does he mean to you?"

"He's…" Haru started to say, but he stopped having no idea how to respond to her question. Onmon was many things to him now. Initially, Haru had been afraid of him when they had met, but Onmon had proven from time to time again how much he cared about him. Like Gatchmon, he would fight for those he cared about. And now after getting to know about Onmon and being paired with him as partners, Haru considered Onmon more than his friend. He was defintely something more than that.

"He's my Buddy." Haru answered looking back up at Aidmon. "Just like Gatchmon, he's my precious Buddy."

"A Buddy?" Aidmon asked. She shook her head and smiled fondly at that answer. "That must be wonderful. Don't worry Haru-kun, I will make sure your Buddy will get the best proper treatment."

Haru opened his mouth to tell Aidmon no, but stopped when he saw the slightest movement at the door. He turned and saw Docmon entering the room with a wide smile, showing off his razor sharp fanged teeth. He walked forward and shoved Aidmon away from Haru as he stopped in front of him.

"Ahh there you are, Shinkai Haru. How do you like it here? I hope I did not hit you too hard?"

Haru narrowed his eyes, but did not opened his mouth to respond to Docmon's questions. Instead he chose to glare at him. He didn't want to speak to an Appmon that would harm others simply for their own pleasure.

I see… The silent treatment. No matter, I will get you talking."

Docmon turned to Aidmon and gestured for her to leave the room. "Aidmon, if you could please leave us be. I will ask for you to collect the patient when I am done."

Aidmon nodded her head. "Of course, Docmon!"

She turned and began to walk out of the room, but stopped and turned, giving one last look to Haru. She gave him a small smile and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. Haru stared at the spot she had been standing at confused, wondering why she had smiled at him with no sign of cheerfulness in her smile. He wondered why Aidmon would do such a thing.

"Now then," Haru heard Docmon say, snapping him out of his thoughts. He turned to him as the Appmon took a step forward to him with his syringes pointed upwards at him.

"Shall we begin?"


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Surprisingly, I was able to write this chapter despite being overwhelmed with two exams this week. I decided to update it now since I'm working late both today and tomorrow. I'm hoping that I can write a chapter next week since I only have to take two finals. I can't make any promises though. As always, thank you to all that are reading. I never expected for me to get this far in this story.**

 **trashyistrash: Yep, that's definitely not good. And oh? I didn't realize that. I really haven't played Pokémon Sun and Moon, so I don't really know how Wicke acts. As for plot twists? Psshhh, you should expect this. This is a fanfic, and I always want to try to take a different turn whenever I can. And oh boy, I didn't even think about Wargreymon. Originally, I didn't plan to go out too far on this story, but due to the responses I have received, I have decided to give it my shot. This probably means I'm going to be writing my own version of Haru meeting Agumon. This might be a special chapter though since it's not really related to the plot at all.**

 **Oragonking: Mmm maybe? Who knows what Aidmon will decide to do.**

 **Aone: I'm not mad. You're entitled to your own opinion, so it's okay. This story isn't really about romance anyway. Just because Ai will be getting her own Buddy Appmon in the future doesn't mean she will dominate the story. This story is really about the bonds Haru has with his friends, mainly Gatchmon and Onmon. I think the only romance you probably see in this story is Haru's feelings for Yuujin. I mean it's plainly obvious that Haru considers him more than just his best friend. As for Haru's crush on Ai. I'm not really going to mention it since the writers really never mentioned about it in the series after the first episode. I think they only wrote that Haru had a crush on Ai to distract us from the obvious truth of who he really likes (*wink *wink). Really, she's just his childhood friend and I'm going to stick with that. So have no fear, Haru will still be the main focus of this story.**

* * *

 **Chapter 15**

Gatchmon wanted to trust Coordemon and Setmon. He wanted to trust that they were taking him to Haru to be finally reunited with him. From what he had learned from them, Coordemon and Setmon had kept Haru safe from one of Leviathan's followers. And for that, he was grateful. But the minute the two led him and the others inside to an empty building called the Kindergarten that had looked like it had been abandoned for years with no sign of Haru inside, all the trust he had for the two was completely tossed away and replaced with suspicion that quickly grew with each passing second.

"Where is he?!" Gatchmon demanded as his eyes narrowed at the two Appmon expecting for them to turn around and attack them. Drawmon had already betrayed them and he was not going to take chance for Coordemon and Setmon to do the same. However, to his annoyance, they didn't answer his question nor make any attempt to do so. Instead, they only looked at the room with expressions of pure confusion.

In silence, Coordemon walked forward and glanced around, eyeing every furniture in the room and taking note of every detail. Some of the furniture had been slightly moved, but nothing was moved in a way that showed there was a scuffle. Realizing this, she clenched her jaw as her hands tightened into fists. Onmon had left with Haru. There was no doubt about it. She was angry that he had decided to choose of all the times like now to disobey her instructions when she and Setmon had found Haru's friends. She knew that she should have considered this though. Onmon never liked to follow anyone's instructions. He had proven that numerous of times. She just hated that he had to decided to act on his own when his actions could put Haru's safety in jeopardy.

"Coordemon?" Coordemon heard Setmon say interrupting her thoughts of every swear word she could think of to describe Onmon at that second.

She turned to him and took a deep breath in an attempt to quell the searing ball of anger that was boiling inside of her. Once she had made sure her rage was suppressed enough to not cause her to start shooting arrows at any possible target in the room, she opened her mouth and spoke to Setmon in the calmest tone she could make..

"No one came in. They left on their own."

"Where is Haru?" Eri spoke up, catching Coordemon and Setmon's attention. They turned away from each other to her and the others. Knowing that they wouldn't accept any other excuse as for why Haru was not currently in the room, Coordemon decided to tell them the truth. She couldn't keep them in the dark nor lie to them.

"Our friend, Onmon, left with Haru. We have no idea why they left, since there doesn't look like there was an attack by any of Leviathan's followers."

"Where did they go?" Gatchmoon asked, this time with less anger. Although he looked like he was just as angry as she was, Coordemon could tell he was trying his best to keep it bottled up and in check. There was no doubt that he wanted to take out his festering anger on her and Setmon. She had a feeling that it may have appeared to him that they were deceiving him the whole time when they brought them to an empty building after promising that they were taking them to Haru. In a way, Gatchmon had the right to be angry.

"I don't know…" Coordemon answered, reluctant to continue making eye contact with Gatchmon. She sighed deeply and turned away, walking forward towards the secret passageway door that was barely visible on the ground. She stared at it, finding that it hadn't been opened after she and Setmon had left, which meant that Onmon and Setmon had walked out through the building's doors. She was partially grateful that they decided to leave in that way. If Onmon had decided to bring Haru back to Setmon's destroyed workshop by using the same passageway, she was sure that would have placed Haru in even more danger. Setmon's workshop was sure to be likely being watched by Leviathan's followers, which meant it should be the last place for any of them to return to. She knew she had to at least be grateful that Onmon thought about that.

"What do you mean? You have to know where they are!" Coordemon heard Gatchmon say with a slight plead in his voice that was carefully masked with an overwhelming wave of anger. Immediately, she felt guilty. She wanted to see Haru reunited with his friends and see him go home with a bright smile on his face, but because of Onmon, she wondered if she would ever see that. Cyber Kowloon was a large place and it was miracle that Haru and Onmon made it to her and Setmon without them getting attacked by other Appmon. She was sure a handful of them would love to get their hands on a human like Haru and make him pay back with his life for all the misgivings other humans have caused them. And if any of those Appmon found out that Onmon was helping a human, she was positive that his punishment would be severe. Now they were out there somewhere and she had no idea of knowing if they were even safe. That fact scared her. She cared too much about Haru and Onmon.

"We are just as confused as you are as to what has happened to Haru and Onmon." Setmon spoke up, his humble voice echoing throughout the room. "But for now, we should talk about what we can do to find them."

"But where do we start?" Astra asked.

"Yeah!" Musimon added. "This place is too big to look for them in a short amount of time."

Coordemon felt her body flinch at Musimon's words. It was true. Cyber Kowloon was too big of a place to look for one human and one Appmon in such a short amount of time. And given how she and Setmon had left Onmon and Haru alone for a long period of time already, they must have already gone too far out in the city. She was sure by now that they must have ran into trouble.

"We don't have time! We have to find Haru now!" Gatchmon snapped. He was beyond angry now. He was livid. He had expected to finally find Haru and bring him home, but instead, Haru had disappeared with the Appmon that was suppose to be protecting him. He was angry over this because now Haru was out there in a place where Appmon wanted to harm humans. He had already seen the things Appmon have tried to do to Eri and Astra, even going to the point to use a Worm to delete their biological data. He was afraid of the things the Appmon would do to Haru, since he was no exception to their burning hate of humans.

"And we will!" Coordemon snapped, feeling her anger rise once more. She stomped over to Gatchmon and prepared to whack him with her bow to knock into sense into him, but she was quickly stopped by Setmon. He shook his head at her with displeasure and turned back to Gatchmon with a calm gaze.

"I ask for you to stay calm. Onmon is more than capable of making sure Haru stays safe. I am sure they are fine at this moment."

Gatchmon clenched his teeth, but did not opened his mouth to say anymore. He didn't know who Onmon was, so of course he couldn't trust him to make sure Haru stayed safe. After all, it was his job to do that. Not some Appmon that Haru befriended. But from what Coordemon had explained to him earlier, it was Onmon who had proven that he was the best one to leave with Haru when they left. She didn't explain why exactly when he asked and only told him to talk to Haru when they see him. But from what he saw from her expression earlier, it was something serious only Haru could explain.

" _Beep! Beep!"_

Gatchmon blinked confused feeling the Haru's white Appmon band in his hand shake slightly. He glanced down at it confused as a single red dot appeared glowing faintly at the bottom of the screen. He narrowed his eyes and pointed the band towards the door, watching as the glowing red dot moved to the top of the screen at the direction he was pointing at. Immediately, Gatchmon widened his eyes at this and moved towards the door. He barely heard Eri in the distance telling him to stop as he dashed out of the Kindergarten with the band in his hand. Only one thing was in his thoughts and that was to find Haru using his band to lead him.

Gatchmon had no idea where he was running for that matter nor did he make any effort to to see if Eri or the others had followed him. His attention was only focused on the blinking red dot that was directing him where to go. It led him to pass by multiple alleys and Appmon that gave him expressions of confusion. There was a point in which in the corner of his eye Gatchmon saw an a couple of Appmon making movement towards him. But he quickly lost them in the crowd as he continued running. Nobody was going to stop him when Haru was so close.

Eventually, the blinking red dot came to a stop and the Appmon band hummed faintly in his hand alerting Gatchmon that he was finally at the location. Gripping the band tightly in his hand in anticipation, Gatchmon took a look around to see where he was. He was now at an small circular area that had the appearance of a construction site, but looked like it had been long since forgotten. Parts of buildings looked unfinished, while small chunks of debris laid on the ground along with drilling tools. By the unfinished buildings, Gatchmon could see a pile of large metal pipes lying on top of each other. As took a step forward into the construction site, he felt Haru's Appmon band beeped quietly at his movement. Whatever was by the metals pipes was what the band wanted him to find.

Carefully, Gatchmon approached the metal pipes with precaution. While Gatchmon trusted Haru's Appmon band, there was there a chance that there was an Appmon that was waiting to come out and attack him. He hoped though that this was not the case. He wanted it to be Haru there waiting for him to find him.

"Haru?" Gatchmon asked as he took another steps towards the pipes. At the sound of his voice, he heard slight movement from behind the pipes, followed by a barely audible squeaky voice that replied back to his question.

"Y-You know Haru?"

Gatchmon froze and watched as a small hamster-like Appmon walked out from behind the pipes and stopped in front of, gazing at him with large fearful eyes. Gatchmon recognized what the Appmon was. It was a Tutomon. He remembered meeting one when he, Dokamon, and Musimon as well as the other Appli Driver's Appmon decided to have a competition between themselves. A Tutomon and a MCmon had co-hosted the event. But unlike the Tutomon he had met, the Tutomon that was standing in front of him was slightly shaking and less confident in himself. It was odd to Gatchmon. Naturally, Tutomon were suppose to be confident in their ability to speak, since they were Commentary Appmon. He wondered why this Tutomon was so different.

Deciding to push those thoughts away and think about them at a later time, Gatchmon studied the Tutomon once more, wondering why the band had directed for him to find him. It wasn't until he glanced down at Tutomon's small hands did he realize why.

In Tutomon's hands was Haru's Appli Drive, its screen glowing faintly. Gatchmon stared at it wide-eyed with shock as he held his hand out towards it as if it would disappear from him any second. Of all the things he had thought he would find, he hadn't expected it to be Haru's Appli Drive. Thankfully, it didn't looked like it was broken despite its faint glow. But what Gatchmon saw near the screen sent his world crashing.

Instead of his name, it now said 'Pairing Onmon'. Gatchmon was no longer Haru's Appmon Buddy.

At first, Gatchmon wanted to deny what the Appli Drive said. He wanted to believe that it was just broken and had mixed up his name with another Appmon, but the longer he stared at the Appli Drive, the more his mind began to accept the truth that was in front of. It explained why he had felt his bond with Haru becoming severed at that one time. He knew he should have considered that Haru had a new Buddy, but even so, he would have shoved it to the back of his mind in denial. He didn't want to accept that. Haru was his Buddy and no one else. He had found him in his search. Haru was the one who was suppose to be partnered with him. That was what his search told him. So why was Haru now partnered to another Appmon?

"U-um are you okay?" Tutomon asked taking a step forward.

Gatchmon barely felt himself nod his head as his body began to feel numb. He was not okay. How could he be when it felt like he had been replaced. He had always thought that he would stay by Haru's side, but now he had been literally shoved to the side, so that another Appmon could take his place. Was this karma for not saving Haru from Mienumon when she had grabbed him?

"Are you Setmon or Cooredemon or do you know them? I-I'm looking for them." Tutomon stuttered as he stared down the device in his hands. He held it up to Gatchmon as he looked back up at him.

"Y-You said Haru earlier, right? D-do you know him?"

Gatchmon nodded, feeling his shoulders slumped forward at Tutomon's question. Of course he knew Haru, but did it even matter anymore? He was no longer Haru's Buddy. The Appli Drive had decided that. He was not good enough nor strong enough to keep Haru safe. This was his punishment for being weak, that he knew. In the back of his head, a dark thought told him that he shouldn't even care anymore since he was tossed away. So why did it still feel like his chest was tightening with overwhelming emotions. If he was was no longer Haru's Buddy, why was it that someone deep inside, he still cared so much about him.

"Please! Haru is in danger!"

Gatchmon felt all the numbness in his body disappear as those words rang throughout his head. That was right. Haru was in danger. That was why he still cared so much about him. Even if Haru was no longer his Buddy, he was still his friend. And nothing was ever going to sever that connection he had with Haru. And right now, Haru needed him.

"What happen?! Where is he?!" Gatchmon asked, as he took a step forward to Tutomon. Tutomon jumped in surprise at Gatchmon's immediate change of emotion, but quickly shook his head and explained what he had to say.

"Haru and Onmon were taken by Docmon! I wanted to save them, but Haru made me escape with his device and this!"

Tutomon held up a chip for Gatchmon to see. He recognized it as an Appmon chip and that it must have belonged to Haru's new Buddy Onmon. His heart sank at this realization, but he quickly shoved those emotions away. There would be time later to sort things out, but for now he had to focus on saving Haru.

"Why did he take Haru?" Gatchmon questioned.

"Because Docmon is one of Leviathan's followers and I have a feeling that if we don't act soon, Haru is going to go one a one way trip to Leviathan." A voice said behind them. The two turned and saw Coordemon standing at the entrance way with everyone behind her. She sent Gatchmon a sharp glare and walked forward until she stopped in front of Tutomon right next to Gatchmon. In a calming voice, she proceeded to talk to the frightened Appmon.

"Can tell us what happened, so that we can understand what we need to do."

"O-of course!" Tutomon said. He then went on to explaining what happened when Haru and Onmon came into his home without any explanation. He told them how Haru had helped him with something he didn't go over, while Onmon was an Appmon that had scared him at first. When Docmon had come into his explanation, Tutomon made sure to go in great detail about how Docmon had overpowered Onmon. He explained how Haru had made sure he would escape and gave him his device and Logimon's Appmon, telling him to find Coordemon and Setmon. When he was finished, Coordemon quietly thanked him and turned over to Setmon with an unreadable gaze.

"We need to go find them now."

"Who is Docmon?" Eri asked.

"He's an Appmon here that's known to love torturing Appmon with his surgeries." Coordemon explained. "He follows one of Leviathan's four generals. If he has Haru and Onmon, I am sure that they won't be excluded from having one of his surgeries done on them."

Both Eri and Astra widened their eyes at Coordemon's explanation as their Appmon turned their heads to them with worry. By Coordemon, Gatchmon felt his body tremble with renewed anger. Again, Haru was taken away from him another Appmon. And this time, by a far worst one. He had no idea if Haru was even okay given how the Appmon that had taken him loved to torture others. At this though, Gatchmon felt his hands clenched into fists. Even if he wasn't Haru's Buddy, he was still going to save him. He was not going to fail in protecting his friend.

"Do you know where Docmon is?" Gatchmon asked as he turned over to Coordemon. She looked back at him in surprise and nodded.

"Yes, it's not too far from here. I should warn you though," she said as she looked over to Eri and Astra. "If Docmon finds out about you two, he's probably not going to rest until he has you. I'm sure humans hasn't been any patients he has had before."

"We're going." Eri said, her eyes narrowing in defiance. By her side, Astra also nodded in head. They were going to go even if it would put them in danger. They knew Haru would do the same for them.

"Fine." Coordemon said. "For now, we should all head back to the Kindergarten and think about how we are going to storm into Docmon's facility. It's probably going to be heavily guarded."

Everyone nodded and moved to follow Coordemon. Gatchmon prepared to do the same, but he paused and turned back to Tutomon. He walked over to him and held his hand out to him.

"Can I have Haru's Appli Drive and that Appmon chip?"

"Of course!" Tutomon's said as his mouth formed into a small smile. He handed the items to Gatchmon and walked over to Coordemon to talk to her. Gatchmon watched him go and looked down at Haru's Appli Device in his hand. He smiled softly at the glowing device as he brushed his hand over it. He was not going to give up. As long as he was alive, he was going to give it his all to keep Haru safe. That was his duty for now.

Making that a solid promise, Gatchmon looked back up and proceeded to follow Coordemon and the others. What he failed to notice as he walked was the light in Haru's Appli Drive glowing faintly as the words 'Pairing Onmon' flickered back to 'Pairing Gatchmon' for a split second before returning back to what it was.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: I really didn't expect this delay to take so long, but I was having such a hard time writing this chapter due to starting it at the beginning of finals, and working on it once again when my brain was already fried. So if this chapter is not up to your expectations, I apologize. Finals take a lot out of you, trust me on that. Now for other bit of news, I plan to post the second arc of this story as a new story, since I don't want readers to be confused. As such, be prepared for its post once I wrap this arc up. I will try to write the last few chapters before I go back to school, but I would also like to write a few chapters for Eclipse as well. So please have patience in me if that happens.**

 **Oragonking: I do believe this chapter answers your question. As for what's wrong with Haru's Appli Drive, you just have to find out in a later chapter.**

 **trashyistrash: No, his Appli Drive won't turn into the Appli Drive Duo just yet. And gosh I know, makes you wonder when did Coordemon learn how to do that. And hmmm... That's a good guess. I can't answer though since it would be huge spoilers.**

 **Aone: No problem! I have always planned to include Haru and Yuujin's relationship when I decided I was going to continue this, since there's so much more to be still explored about them. Thank you for your support!**

* * *

 **Chapter 16**

Haru didn't know how long he had sat in the corner of his 'room' with his legs curled up to his chest as his arms were wrapped around them. His head hung low near to his knees as his gaze remained transfixed on a particular spot at the empty white padded wall in front of him. He had no sense of time, so he couldn't make out how long he had been locked up again. Haru slowly found that he didn't care anymore, not with the weight of everything that he had gone through pressing down hard onto his shoulders as the walls around him seemed to inch closer with each passing minute. Haru forced himself not to hyperventilate with each breath he took and instead tried to focus on other things. But with the suffocating silence, he was finding it harder to continue to do so.

Feeling a slight chill, Haru wrapped his arms around his legs tighter, wincing at the slight sting that erupted from both his arms. He had forgotten what Docmon had done to them during his appointment with him. Because he didn't want to comply with him, Docmon had injected sharp needles into both of his arms. Docmon laughed as he did this, claiming that he was going easy on Haru, but Haru knew Docmon was lying. He really just wanted to try a different method to torture him. After all, he was probably Docmon's first ever human patient.

When the needles were injected into his body, all Haru could remember was fiery pain. It wasn't the kind of pain that stung for a split second and turned numb that it was easy to withstand, but the kind that seemed to burn like searing hot water had been sprayed on him. He vividly remembered how the burning pain increased in waves as he tried everything to get the needles off his arms with no success. Eventually, after what seemed like hours, the pain settled into a sharp throbbing pain as the needles were removed from his arms. Somehow, through his exhaustion, Haru managed to open his eyes and his cloudy gaze fell upon Docmon grinning maliciously at him. Docmon threatened that the pain would be far worse the next time he saw him. After the warning, he left and allowed Aidmon to come back into the room. When she saw him at the state he was in, Aidmon wasted no time to apply ointment and bandage his arms. He remembered how she hummed softly to him as she bandaged him, helping him take his mind off from the throbbing pain. When she was finished, she took Haru's hand and led him out of the exam room into the hallway. As they walked, Haru felt himself wince at each movement he made. His arms were no longer burning in pain and had become slightly numb, but it was still enough to make him feel nauseous.

He eventually realized where Aidmon was taking him. When they got to his 'room', she led him inside and apologized, smiling slightly. Before Haru could say anything, she turned and left the room, closing the door behind her and locking it with a loud click. With that sound, Haru realized he was locked in once again.

At first, Haru couldn't process that thought, but with each passing second, it finally sunk in. In a daze, he moved to the corner of the room and sat in a fetal position against the wall, allowing his head to rest against it. It never occurred to him how much the situation felt hopeless. In every situation he had been in, he had Gatchmon, Onmon, and the others to help him. But now, he was utterly alone. There was no one there to help him.

That realization hung there, casting its shadow into his thoughts. Haru didn't have the strength to ignore it, allowing it to tighten its hold onto him. And now, after possibly after hours of silence, he still sat there on the padded ground, staring blankly at the empty white wall, wondering if it was even right for him to escape. Onmon had been hurt because of him. At the back of his mind, a faint whisper suggested that it was only fair that he had been hurt by Docmon. After all, it had been his fault that Onmon had been involved in the first place.

"Haru-kun, I'm back!"

Haru blinked and turned, watching the door unlock with a click and swinging open. Aidmon entered the room with a large eager smile. She walked forward to Haru, but frowned immediately when she noticed how he turned back to staring at the wall.

"Haru-kun? Are you okay?"

She placed her hand on Haru's forehead, checking his temperature. She quickly determined that his temperature was okay and placed her hand onto his wrist. She checked his pulse and breathing pattern, but found that they were in normal range. Fear began to take root inside of her as she realized she had no idea what was wrong with Haru.

"Haru-kun! Look at me!"

Haru blinked and turned to Aidmon, a bit surprised at her outburst. He found himself transfixed on her green eye as she stared at him with fear and worry present in her gaze. He hadn't realized that she had been talking to him. He tried to smile back to Aidmon, but found that he didn't have the energy to. How could he smile at a time like this?

Seeing Haru's solemn expression, Aidmon's mouth formed into a tight smile. She hated seeing Haru look so gloomy and dejected from all his surroundings. His emotionless expression didn't suit him. He deserved to smile. She figured that was all the more reason why she was going to make sure that happened. She wanted to lift up his spirit after what Docmon had done to him.

"Haru-kun, can you follow me?" Aidmon asked, holding her hand out for Haru to take.

Haru eyed Aidmon's outstretched hand with confusion, but reluctantly took it. As he grabbed onto her hand, he noticed how Aidmon's green eye twinkled with joy at his compliance. Not even giving him a chance to respond, she pulled him forward to his feet and pulled him forward out of the room. Despite being out of the room once more, Haru found that he was slightly afraid of being out of it. He dreaded that Aidmon was taking him back to Docmon to conduct another torture method on him.

But to his surprise, after going through a number of hallways, they stopped at a familiar door. Beaming, Aidmon released Haru's hand and pressed the same sequence of numbers on the keypad Haru had remembered her pressing earlier. Like before, the keypad beeped in response to the correct sequence that was put and the door opened, revealing the occupant inside.

Instead of sitting lifelessly on the ground like the last time when Haru and Aidmon had visited him, Onmon was moving and attacking one of the walls with his hands, while yelling out idle threats. He paused once he heard the door opened and turned to see who had come to see him. When his gaze fell onto Haru, nothing held him back as he ran forward and leaped onto Haru.

"Haru!"

Onmon grabbed onto Haru and buried his face into his chest, mumbling things that was too difficult for Haru to understand. In confusion, Haru stared down at Onmon, struggling to comprehend if Onmon was really okay. He had never imagined Onmon to be as affectionate as Gatchmon. Onmon always seemed to have the tough guy image, so it was truly surprising to see Onmon looking so vulnerable as he held onto his chest. He wondered if he was the reason for this change.

"Are you okay, Haru?" Haru heard Onmon say, shaking him out of his thoughts. He nodded slightly at him, deciding to not bring up what Docmon had done to him. If he was right about Onmon, then he didn't want to see how angry Onmon would become if he learned that he had been hurt.

Onmon smiled, but immediately frowned. Not even giving a chance for Haru to respond, he turned towards Aidmon and leapt down from Haru's chest, positioning himself in front of him. He held his hand out as his eyes narrowed in anger at her.

"I remember you! You took me to Docmon! I won't let you harm Haru this time!"

Aidmon winced at Onmon's statement, but she forced herself to remain smiling at Onmon. She lifted her hands at Onmon as a sign that she wouldn't hurt them and walked silently over to the open door and glanced around. Once she made sure no one was around, she shut it and looked back to Haru and Onmon, who both stared back at her in confusion.

"Please excuse my action just now. I had to make sure no one would be near listening to us." Aidmon said as she walked closer to the two. She immediately stopped when she noticed Onmon becoming tense and ready to attack her. He still did not trust her.

"Don't take another step forward!" Onmon spat, his body slightly shaking in anger. "I won't let you touch Haru!"

"Onmon, wait-" Haru started to say in an attempt to calm Onmon down, but Aidmon cut him off.

"I mean you no harm. I apologize for what has happened to you two and I want to help you two now."

Haru blinked in confusion, shocked at what Aidmon had said. He hadn't expected Aidmon to suddenly want to help him and Onmon. When he had spoke to her earlier during their first visit to Onmon, she didn't seem like she would betray Docmon that easily. From what he remembered, Docmon had saved her when she been thrown away by humans. She was insistent that Docmon helped Appmon and brought no harm to them. It puzzled him why she had suddenly had a change of heart. It did not make sense that she wanted to help them now considering that would mean Docmon would punish her. Haru wondered if Aidmon was prepared for that.

"Like I would believe you." Onmon retorted as his eyes narrowed. He took a step forward to Aidmon with his hand pointed at her. "I don't trust anyone that works for Docmon."

"Onmon, she's telling the truth." Haru assured. He looked down at Onmon as the Appmon turned towards to him with shock. Onmon opened his mouth to argue, but Haru shook his head and turned his gaze back at Aidmon and smiled fondly at her. His mind was telling him everything to not place his trust in her, but his heart told him otherwise. Aidmon was kind and it was his hope that her kindness had finally opened her eyes. Besides, he had faith in her. She had treated him when Docmon had harmed him and allowed him to meet Onmon when he was positive that was probably went against Docmon's orders. If there was any chance for him and Onmon to escape from this place, he was going to place his trust in Aidmon to help them, even if it was probably not the most ideal thing to do.

"Please listen to what I have to say." Aidmon begged as her gaze became fixed on Onmon. "I understand why you don't trust me, but I don't want to see Haru-kun hurt anymore. If he stays here any longer, I'm afraid what Docmon will do to him before Biomon comes."

"Biomon?" Onmon asked. His anger immediately disappeared as he lowered his gaze to the ground in deep thought. He had heard of Biomon before from Coordemon one time when he had went to see her. She had explained to him how Leviathan had appointed four generals. Although he couldn't remember what the other three were called, he did remember Biomon coming up in their conversation. He was feared by many Appmon due to the fact he took joy in experimenting with Appmon. Onmon did not want to think what Biomon would do to a human like Haru.

As if she understood what Onmon was thinking, Aidmon shook her head.

"Biomon won't be conducting a surgery on Haru-kun. He will be taking him to the Deep Web to meet with Leviathan."

Onmon widened his eyes and glared at Aidmon. He opened his mouth to respond to Aidmon's statement, but Aidmon spoke once more.

"Please trust me. All I want is to make sure Haru-kun is safe. After Docmon had seen him, I looked into both of your files without his consent. And I found out what he intends to with the both of you."

Onmon clenched his teeth when he heard Aidmon talk about Docmon seeing Haru. He remembered when Aidmon had brought him to Docmon, the mad doctor Appmon had him strapped down on a table. He tried to escape and as result, had an orange liquid injected into him. Onmon had no idea what happened to him next after he had fallen asleep, but he knew that he couldn't let the same thing happen to Haru. But now to hear that while he had been asleep, Haru had already met with Docmon made him curse at himself. He was not stupid to think that Docmon hadn't done anything to Haru. After all, Haru was a human. It was a golden opportunity for an Appmon like Docmon to conduct a medical application on Haru. And knowing what Docmon was capable of, Onmon knew it was something that had hurt Haru.

Despite wanting to consult Haru about his suspicions, one look at Haru made Onmon drop them. He couldn't place Haru on the spot if Docmon had indeed harmed him. It wasn't right. He couldn't let Haru speak about something like that when there was no doubt he was traumatized by the ordeal. That was why Onmon grudgingly looked back at Aidmon and narrowed his eyes even more at her. He still didn't trust her. Not after what she had done, but he was still willing to listen to her. He was interested in what she had to say.

"Aidmon," Haru said, snapping Onmon out of his thoughts and drawing Aidmon's gaze onto him. "What did you find?"

Aidmon took a deep breath and blew out slowly before looking back up at Haru and Onmon and speaking. "Remember when I explained Docmon had plans to reconstruct Onmon's data? I found out from Onmon's file that the procedure Docmon will be using does not have a full success rate. Onmon will be the first Appmon he will ever try the procedure on. As such, it is more likely to fail, but if successful, Docmon will use the procedure on other Appmon to make them loyal followers of Leviathan."

"Wait." Onmon interrupted in confusion. "What procedure? What do you mean by reconstructing my data?"

"Docmon wishes to change you into a different shape without going through the evolutional way." Aidmon explained with a solemn expression. "Biomon had found a way to do so with a human, and as such, Docmon was curious to see if it would be possible if done to an Appmon."

"But what about Haru?! Will he do the same to him?" Onmon asked in panic.

Aidmon shook her head and turned towards Haru. "I'm afraid he has something else terrible planned for Haru-kun. Docmon wants to manually change Haru's genetic code. He hasn't told Biomon this as far as I know, but if Biomon finds out, it will be considered treason."

"As if I'll let him do that to Haru." Onmon said through clenched teeth. "When does he plan to do this to Haru?"

"In about an hour." Aidmon answered. "He plans to do so before Biomon comes."

She shook her head and bowed her head. "I apologize for allowing Docmon to hurt you two. I know when I said earlier that I wouldn't disobey Docmon for what he has done for me but..."

She bit her bottom lip and looked back up at Haru and Onmon with a soft gaze. She allowed her mouth to form into a small smile as something wet spilled down on her left cheek. Realizing what she was doing, Aidmon silently lifted her hand and wiped her tears away before speaking again.

"I want to help you both, Haru-kun and Onmon. I've realized… I've realized that what Docmon has been doing isn't right. And because of that, I want to do what's right."

"Aidmon…" Haru said slowly, feeling something warm take root inside his chest. He allowed the warm feeling to chase his doubts away as it made his frown turn into a small smile. Somehow, Aidmon had changed for them. She realized on her own that Docmon was not the Appmon she thought he was. And although this would mean that Aidmon had placed herself in great danger now, it made him secretly happy inside. Her change meant that Aidmon would no longer be hurting herself from doing things he knew she couldn't stand doing. He knew a kind Appmon like Aidmon deserved much more than working for an Appmon that took joy in hurting others.

"I don't trust you." Onmon spoke up, breaking the silence. Haru turned towards him with shock, but Onmon's expression made him pause in thought. Onmon still did not trust Aidmon, but Haru could tell behind all his suspicion and doubt that there was a bit of trust for Aidmon. Even if he was trying to mask it with anger, Haru could see respect for Aidmon in Onmon's gaze. He respected Aidmon despite who she was.

"I will work with you." Onmon said, his eyes narrowing at Aidmon. "But only because I want to save Haru. You don't have my full trust yet."

Haru wanted to call Onmon a liar. It was as clear as day to him that Onmon did trust her a little. Even so, he remained silent and looked over to Aidmon watching as she nodded to Onmon's response. He wondered if she understood that Onmon was lying. If she did, he was happy to see that she did not let his words brek her resolve. It was all the more reason his trust grew for her.

"So how are you going to help us?" Onmon asked.

"I will escort you two out of this facility, preferably the exit that Docmon won't suspect us to be taking."

She lifted her hand and dug inside the pocket of her white dress and took something out of it revealing to be a small remote. "This is one of the devices that Docmon made. It allows access to parts of the facility that patients are not allowed into."

She looked back up at Haru and Onmon and smiled. "We will use the back way passageway to the location I have planned for you to take. The problem is that there may be others guarding that passageway and if they see you two together with me…"

"They will know that we are trying to escape." Haru finished.

Aidmon nodded. "I wanted to create a distraction to keep those guards occupied, but I couldn't think of one. If… If it comes to it, I will be the distraction, so that you two can escape."

Haru immediately shook his head not liking the idea of Aidmon being left behind and opened his mouth to respond to Aidmon's idea, but a loud boom from outside cut him off. The three stared at each other in confusion as loud sirens from the outside of the room blared as shouts could be heard echoing about intruders. Onmon smiled at hearing this and looked at Aidmon as his eyes gleamed with approval.

"Well, it looks like we got what we needed. There's our distraction."


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: I have finally returned with another chapter. I apologize for the long wait. I had decided to take a short break from this story and when I finally wanted to get back into writing it, the new semester came around and I ended up with a mild case of writer's block. But hey, as an apology, I've written this chapter, which I'm sure many of you will like. Anyhow, I would like to say I will be updating next week, but I have so many exams in the next two upcoming weeks, so I probably won't be updating until mid-February. The plan was to finish this story by the end of January, but college always has to ruin plans. So now, I would like to try to finish this by late February. Let's hope I can do that.**

 **trashyistrash: Yep, it's them! And I know, poor Haru, but the plot calls for pain being inflicted on Haru. As for the title of the new story, it will be called "Recoded Data". And yeah, the world doesn't like Gatchmon for some reason, but it always delivers for those who don't give up.**

 **Rockster: I took your advice and rested, far too long than I wanted. Oh well. Now for Haru developing those fears, it's reasonable that he will. I mean he's only a child and having to go through something like that will leave undetectable scars and phobias he may not be conscious enough to realize he now has. I can't say much about what Leviathan has planned for Haru, but it's directly related to his Applification Project. And yep, as if I would allow Aidmon to be evil. Indeed, Haru had that kind of effect on others. It makes you understand why he was chosen by Minerva to be an Appli Driver. As for Ai's buddy, you just have to wait to see who it is in the sequel.**

 **Aone: I'm sorry. I skipped that part because I really didn't want to dive too much in that part of the chapter. But since I mentioned it and briefly went over it, hopefully that's enough for you. I mean how could I write a whole scene dedicated to torturing Haru? It's so hard considering he is a child who must be protected.**

* * *

 **Chapter 17**

"Eri-chan!"

Eri felt the wind brushed against her skin as Dokamon swiftly moved in front of her as an Appmon moved to attack her. She watched as Dokamon raised his fists and blocked the Appmon's attack before sending the Appmon flying back with a punch, just having enough time after to turn back at her with a worried gaze. Instantly, Eri felt her body grow cold at Dokamon's gaze. She knew why he was giving her that look. It was unlike her to not pay attention to her surroundings, especially when they were surrounded by the hordes of Pipomon in front of them. She had no idea how many times Dokamon had protected her from their attacks because of her inability to pay attention. But everytime she tried to wrap her mind around the the severity of the situation they were in, her mind wandered elsewhere. It was frustrating to Eri, since she knew it wasn't fair for Dokamon.

"Astra, I don't know how long we can keep at this." Eri heard Musimon say, catching from the corner of her eye of his jump back to Astra's side after defending Astra from another attack from a Pipomon. "There's too many."

Eri bit her bottom lip at Musimon's comment and looked down to her Appli Drive in her hand feeling conflicted. There was an easier way of defeating all the Pipomon, but that would mean Dokamon would be defenseless after, since it required all of his energy to evolve to his Ultimate grade. There was also the fact that there was a time limit. As much as she wanted him to evolve, she knew she couldn't. No, they had to continue like this. It was the best thing they could do right now. Besides, the room they were in was too small for both Dokamon and Musimon's Ultimate forms. There was the chance the ceiling would collapse on them.

Deciding this, Eri looked up from her Appli Drive and looked over to where Setmon was. He was behind her and the others disconnecting wires and reconnecting some in a control panel in the corner of a wall with Tutomon helping him the best he could. She had no idea what he was attempting to do nor any idea if this was part of the plan Coordemon had discussed with them. Granted, getting ambushed by hordes of Pipomon and getting separated by Coordemon and Gatchmon in the midst of confusion were things that their plan did not call for.

The plan Coordemon devised with Setmon was simple in logically thinking. While Astra, Musimon, and Gatchmon would attack the facility from the front and draw Docmon's forces onto them, she, Coordemon and Dokamon would sneak into the facility from the side. Setmon and Tutomon were to sneak alongside them, but split up after and find the room that monitored security in the building and take control of it. But just as they were about to carry out their plan into motion, they all had fallen into a trap outside of Docmon's facility that pulled them down into a large room with many Pipomon in it waiting to arrest them. It was chaos after that and when she could finally make sense of what exactly happened, Eri realized that Gatchmon and Coordemon were not in the room.

Despite having just meeting Coordemon, Eri couldn't stop the bundle of worry from beginning to set into her stomach for her and Gatchmon. Coordemon was willing to help them and Gatchmon was her friend. She didn't want to see both of them hurt. But despite these worries, she had hope that they weren't hurt. There was a large gaping hole behind the Pipomon. Eri wanted to believe that the two used the hole to escape and were not pulled away from them during the confusion.

"Hmm, it seems we are underneath Docmon's facility." Setmon mused with amusement as he crossed two wires. He looked up from the wires and looked over to Eri and the others. If Setmon had a mouth, Eri was sure he would be smiling in confidence.

"I dare say Docmon did not think this through. Even though it was not what we originally planned, this will have to do. If you four could, please come closer to me. And Tutomon, if you shall do me the honor."

U-um, y-yes, sir!" The Appmon managed to squeak out as Eri and Astra quickly stepped closer to the two Appmon. Behind them, Musimon and Dokamon punched two final Pipomon that had tried to bypass them and jumped back to their partner's side. Once they were close enough, Tutomon hastily pressed a small button that was on the side of the panel.

At first, when Tutomon pressed the button, nothing happened. But as each second passed, a sharp clicking sound could be heard ringing from the walls. It was faint, but soon grew unbearably louder. At that point, Eri, Astra, and their Appmon were forced to cover their ears as the sound echoed throughout the room. And yet, just as fast as the sound came, it stopped with one final click.

And what appeared after that was dark purple bolts of electricity. They shot out from each wall, twisting and turning as if they were in a dance, with no path in mind. The Pipomon immediately began to panic upon the sight of the electrical bolts and tried to disperse towards the exit. While some were lucky to make it out, there were those that were too slow to escape. The bolts of electricity came into contact with those unlucky Pipomon's bodies, causing them to scream out in pain as their bodies convulsed with the violent electrical current pulsing through them. When the current left from their bodies, the Pipomon's flashing red sirens turned dark and they dropped to the floor, not making any movement to get back up.

Eri had expected the same thing that was happening to the Pipomon to happen to them. She expected the bolt of electricity to reach her and pulse through her, electrocuting her. But surprisingly, the bolts of electricity never touched her. And everytime they did, they bounced away at the last second, almost like there was an invisible barrier around her that was deflecting each bolt away from her. Eri had a feeling that whatever Setmon did was the reasoning for this.

When the last Pipomon fell to the ground unconscious, each bolt of electricity moved towards the wall, pulsing through it with a sharp hiss as it disappeared. Eri watched amazed how so much chaos could disappear in a matter of seconds like it had never even happened. The only thing that stayed to remind her of what had been dancing wildly around room a moment ago was the unconscious Pipomon laying all around the room.

"Hmm, now that our path is clear, shall we move on?" Setmon asked, turning away from the opened panel to Eri and the others.

"W-what did you do?" Astra asked, turning away from what laid in front of them to Setmon with a stunned expression.

"I used the technology's mainframe in this control panel." Setmon explained as he began to place the wires he had joined together back into the panel. "This room appeared to have been a room Docmon intended to use on Appmon to electrocute them, but the technology that controlled the destination of the electricity was outdated, so I jump started it per say. But I'll say, what's the use of having such technology if you don't know how to manage it?"

"So why weren't we electrocuted like them?" Musimon questioned, pointing to the unconscious Pipomon.

"Hmm? Oh yes, right before Tutomon started the system, I wired the electricity to only move around the rest of the room and not the small area by this panel. Why else do you think I asked for you to come closer to me? I wouldn't want you four to get injured on my account."

"Anyway," Setmon said as he closed the panel's door, turning back to them. "It's best we should leave and be on our way. While it's not the safest thing to do, we should try to proceed with Coordemon's plan."

"B-but Docmon knows we're here, right? H-How are we going to do that? A-And what about Gatchmon and Coordemon?"

Setmon chuckled. "Ahh, but Docmon expected all the Pipomon here to take care of us. Now we have the element of surprise, which we shouldn't let go to waste. As for Coordemon and Gatchmon, I have a feeling that they're well on their way on finding where Haru is."

Eri frowned at Setmon's words. While she didn't like the idea of continuing on with the plan not knowing what happened to Coordemon and Gatchmon, she knew it was the best thing they could do for now. Setmon was right in the fact that they had the element of surprise now. Docmon had no idea that Setmon used the room's technology on the Pipomon. They had to use the opportunity that was now there to move through Docmon's facility. But, still that didn't help with the heaviness that grew in her chest.

It felt wrong to push away her concerns for Coordemon and Gatchmon. And it felt even more wrong to be on the sidelines in helping Haru. She didn't put much thought to it before, but now that she thought about it, it must have been aggrativating for Gatchmon to have the part of distracting Docmon's forces instead of being directed involved in his rescue. It wasn't right to think about it, considering her conflicted feelings about the whole situation, but she was secretly happy for Gatchmon. Now he had the opportunity to be the one to save Haru. He deserved to do that after everything.

"Eri-chan?"

Eri blinked out of her thoughts and looked down at Dokamon, allowing her mouth to form into a small smile. She would smile for now. Just enough so that it could help reassure Dokamon that she was fine. She had to have her mind wrapped around her surroundings once they leave the room. She didn't want Dokamon to worry about her.

"I'm fine Dokamon." Eri said softly, watching as Setmon and the others began to walk towards the exit in the room. She clutched the Appli Driver in her hand tightly and gazed down at Dokamon with determination present in her expression.

She had her part to do and she was not going to let fear stop her from doing that.

"Let's go."

* * *

"Fitting Arrow!"

Gatchmon turned around and watched as Coordemon shot a barrage of arrows at the hordes of Pipomon blocking their path. From what he observed, she was very competent in battle. While she was only just a Super Appmon, she was shown to be just as capable to hold out on her own in any fight. She was precise in her attacks and quick to respond to unprecedented situations like the one they were in. Despite how he still had mixed feelings about her, Gatchmon was glad she was there with him. She was definitely an Appmon that has proven that she was a force to reckon with.

"Panic Sentry!"

Gatchmon snapped out of his thoughts barely in time to avoid the red circular beam of light that had been shot at him from a Pipomon. He glared at the Pipomon that had tried to attack him and jumped forward, his claw outstretched as blue energy began to coat it.

"Gatch Claw!"

The Pipomon was too slow to avoid Gatchmon's attack and succumbed to the blow easily, hitting the wall with a loud bang from the force of the blow and fell to the ground unconscious. Gatchmon wasted no time to do the same to other Pipomon. They were Standard Appmon like him, but they were quick to fall from a slash from his claws. As more and more Appmon were slashed with its claws or hit by Coordemon's arrows, there were fewer and fewer that tried to attack. Eventually, the path that had been blocked by Pipomon became clear of them. The only sign that it had been blocked in the first place was the piles of Pipomon that laid on each side unconscious.

"What lousy security." Coordemon huffed, lowering her bow. She turned towards Gatchmon and narrowed her eyes at him. "Anyway, what were you thinking?! Because of you, we've now become separated by the others."

Gatchmon narrowed his eyes feeling his anger beginning to spike, but immediately stopped, realizing getting angry was not the best thing to do. Considering how Coordimon reacted to his burst of anger before, he was sure she would shut him up before he could get even one sentence out.

"Sorry." Gatchmon decided to say instead, rather begrudgingly. "I was not thinking after those Pipomon grabbed me and tried to drag me away."

It was true. He had not been thinking. When they all fallen into that room, hordes of Pipomon had launched themselves forward and attack without any remorse. In amongst the chaos, Gatchmon had been grabbed by a couple of Pipomon that tried to drag him unwillingly towards the room's exit. Gatchmon had been quick to set himself free, but gave chase right after, not liking the idea of letting the Pipomon have their way. When he finally could make sense of the situation, he realized that he was alone in a white hall no longer in the room that he had fallen in with the others. Before he could even make his way back, hordes of Pipomon fell down from a small opening in the ceiling above him, ambushing him. The only reason Gatchmon was not harmed was because Coordemon came in just the right time to help him. He had a feeling if she hadn't followed him, the hordes of Pipomon would have quickly overwhelmed him in battle and knocked him out. And consideringly how close he was to finding Haru, that was something that Gatchmon did not want to happen to him at all.

Coordemon sighed and clipped her bow behind her back and turned towards the path they had come through. It was no longer there. Instead, there was now a wall that blocked it. She was sure that she and Gatchmon could easily destroy the wall, but that they would be wasting their energy that could be used for something more useful. As much as she hated to, she knew that they had to continue forward. They were running out of time. Docmon now knew they were here and he could be moving Haru and possibly Onmon somewhere else. The layout she had memorized earlier of Docmon's facility that she had gotten from Setmon should be sufficient enough for her and Gatchmon to not get too lost finding their way around.

"Fine." Coordemon said, taking a step forward. "But for Haru and Onmon's sake, please don't do something like that again. Since we can't go back to the others, we should just proceed to move forward."

Gatchmon nodded in agreement and together, they took off. Surprisingly, no Pipomon had appeared to ambush them, but that was all the more reason they both had their guard on. It was suspicious. They were both separated from the others, forced to move ahead on a path in multiple hallways that had no Appmon there to attack them. They both wondered if this was intentional.

Eventually, the hall they had been running in ended at a large white door. Coordemon stared at the door with cautiousness, not liking how the door sent sharp chills down her back. She grabbed her bow and an arrow from her back and turned to Gatchmon with an uneasy gaze.

"Careful, Gatchmon. This may be another trap."

Gatchmon nodded and pushed the door opened, revealing what was inside. They were now in a large circular room that had three large whites door going from the right to the left. In the middle of the room was a large chair with armrests with equipment by it that had a small source of light above it and syringes laid out right next to it on a tray. The only other of light that was in the room was in the ceiling, but even then that didn't help the fear that settled in both of Gatchmon and Coordemon's bodies. They both knew they had to leave now.

They both moved to exit the door they had entered through, but could only watch as it snapped shut with a sharp click. Before Coordemon could even try to open the now locked door, a voice that came from behind them made her eyes go wide.

"Well now, it appears I have new patients."

In a flash, Coordemon turned around and released the arrow that she ready on her bow on the Appmon that was now behind them. The Appmon smirked in amusement at Coordemon's surprise attack and easily dodged the arrow as if it was the most easiest thing to do.

"If you try that again, I'll have to punish you. Ah, but don't worry, I will go easy on you since you're quite the beauty."

Coordemon narrowed her eyes agitated at what the Appmon just said about her and positioned another arrow on her bow's string, aiming it at the Appmon in front of them. She had never met the Appmon personally, but she had heard countless stories of the many things he had done to other Appmon. And she would be damned if she let that Appmon, Docmon, do the same to her or Gatchmon. Docmon was not an Appmon that was worth forgiving.

"Where are Haru and Onmon?" She seethed. Beside her, she could see Gatchmon flinch, knowing that he had not recognized Docmon like she had. She watched him slightly confused as he lowered the magnifying glass on his helmet over to his left eye as he muttered something inaudible to himself. She had to wonder if whatever he was doing was part of his ability as an Appmon.

"Shinkai Haru and Onmon... Do not fear, they are being taken care of it. I give all my patients a treatment that's to die for."

"Yeah, right." Coordemon retorted. "From what I heard, you patients could live without the treatments you give them."

Docmon laughed and raised a syringe at Coordemon. "If I were you, I would watch my tone. Ahh, but then again, I think I like you. You'll be a far more interesting Appmon to stick my needles through. I already had the pleasure of doing the same thing to Haru.""

"Gatch Claw!" Gatchmon suddenly shouted launching forward with his claw raised at Docmon. He slashed at Docmon narrowly missing the Appmon's as he took a step to the side as he dodged his attack. Gatchmon widened his eyes at this, but before he could react, Docmon slapped one of his syringes into Gatchmon, sending him flying towards the wall and slamming against with it with a sickening sound. Coordemon stared horrified at Gatchmon's still form, angered that he had moved without thinking yet again, and moved to help him, but Docmon's voice made her freeze.

"Don't think I haven't forgotten about you."

Coordemon barely had any time to react as she felt something sharp puncture her torso. Wincing, she kicked Docmon away from her with her foot as she felt the needle leave her body. But that still didn't stop the burning pain that began to erupt where he punctured her. She was forced to kneel down as she clutched her torso unable to bear the fiery pain that seemed to travel throughout her body. As she tried to process the torment the pain had on her, she heard footsteps and looked up, seeing Docmon sneering down at her. Her eyes narrowed in deviance as she tried to reach for her bow and stand up. But Docmon was one step ahead of her. He kicked her bow away and pointed a syringe at her neck, forcing to stop making anymore movement.

"I love it when the patient struggles. It makes me it even more enjoyable."

"W-what did you…" Coordemon tried to say, but she found it was getting harder to concentrate on speaking let alone keeping her eyes open.

"I tested a new type of serum I developed on you. You'll be asleep in a minute or so. Can't have you awake for what I'm going to do next. Ahh but don't worry, when you wake up, I'll make sure you'll get special treatment."

Coordemon felt her body shake at Docmon's words and tried to move her hand, finding that it wouldn't respond. When she realized that she couldn't do anything, she mentally cursed at herself. She should have payed attention and kept Gatchmon in check when Docmon antagonized them. Because of her mistake, they both had fallen to Docmon. And now they didn't even have the chance to save Haru and Onmon. All she could do was hope Setmon and the others could do that and escape before it was too late.

"Gatch Claw!"

Coordemon widened her eyes as a claw coated in blue energy she clearly recognized came into contact with Docmon's face, sending him flying away. She watched as Gatchmon landed next to her as he tried to help her up.

"Coordemon, are you okay?"

She tried to answer, but her mouth wouldn't respond. All she could was a weight of heaviness setting in her body that was making her drowsy. She could feel Gatchmon shaking her, trying to keep her awake, but it didn't help at all. She couldn't fight the drowsiness no longer. Unwillingly, she felt her eyelids close as she allowed the darkness to cloud her vision, as regret filled her mind for one last time.

When Coordemon closed her eyes, no longer responding to his voice, Gatchmon immediately felt his body shake in rage. It had happened again. Someone had paid the price for his mistake. Only this time, it was Coordemon. She had been distracted and it had been enough time for Docmon to strike her. And it was because of his inability to stay calm.

"I should have made sure you were taken care of first. I can't have one of Minerva's followers continue to exist for that matter."

Gatchmon turned to respond to Docmon's statement just as he felt something hard make contact with his body, forcing him to the ground. He struggled to stand back up, but Docmon placed his foot on Gatchmon's body putting all of his weight on it, keeping Gatchmon on the ground. Gatchmon tried to slash the foot that kept him down with his claws, but Docmon was quick to stop that. He smacked Gatchmon with his left syringe with a force of a blow that caused Gatchmon's head to slam back onto the ground with a loud bang. As Gatchmon tried to make sense of his now disoriented vision, he could hear Docmon above him laughing at him.

"Pathetic. I thought Minerva's so-called soldiers were supposed to be strong, but all I can see is weakness from you. I wonder if the others that are here now are as weak as you."

He smiled and pointed a syringe at Gatchmon's neck, just an inch above it as he bared his fangs at him. "Just imagine if I managed to get rid of all of you. Leviathan would reward me and make me into a general like Biomon. If I had that status, I would be able to do anything I want! I can have all the patients I want to treat! And not just Appmon, but even humans!"

Gatchmon narrowed his eyes at Docmon in disgust and tried to move his hand. Docmon saw this and moved the syringe closer to Gatchmon's neck, frowning slightly.

"What a shame I can't treat you, but you have been too far tainted by Minerva to be cured. Goodbye Minerva's follower. You won't be missed."

Gatchmon widened his eyes as the tip of syringe needle moved closer to his neck. Instead of closing his eyes in fear though, he decided to keep them open and glare at Docmon in deviance. He was not going to go down without making sure Docmon knew that he hadn't won. No, not when Haru needed him. His partner was here waiting for him to find him. And Gatchmon would be damned if the Appmon that was keeping him pinned to the ground won in getting rid of him. Gatchmon remembered of the time when he had given up after facing defeat from all the virusmon during the Waffle IOS crisis. But Haru had snapped him out of it. And so for Haru's sake, he would do the same thing now. He had his buddy to save.

"Gatchmon!"

Gatchmon felt his body grow cold as a familiar voice rang out in the room as a flash of red and green collided with Docmon, pushing the Appmon off of him. In disbelief, Gatchmon stared at the person that had saved him, the one he had been searching for ever since he was taken from him by Mienumon.

"Haru…"


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Ahh, you guys have no idea how happy I am to finally get this chapter out. I have been overwhelmed with exams upon exams every week now, which explains my month long hiatus. For this, I apologize. But the good news is that spring break for me is about two weeks away. If I play my cards right, I might be able to finally wrap things up with this story. I know it wasn't my plan, but college definitely screwed that up for me. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. It was tough to write. Oh and if you guys ever want to know what I'm up to, I am now putting updates on my profile. Just so that you guys know why I haven't updated on schedule.**

 **trashyistrash: Yep, I'm happy too that I didn't discontinue this story. It has helped me a lot grow with my writing. Sadly, Bootmon won't be coming anytime soon. Sorry, but it would be too soon for Bootmon to appear when we had just gotten Logimon chapters ago. And yep, finally the two get to meet!**

 **Berry Doyle: Yep, definitely not smooth sailing from here, but they will get through it.**

 **Oragonking: Oops, sorry I didn't proofread last chapter after I had finished writing it. I tend to finish these chapters past midnight and when your tired and exhausted from hours of studying, you tend to not care so much about what you written. I'll try a little better to catch these mistakes, but thank you for pointing that out.**

* * *

 **Chapter 18**

Haru had no idea how to feel about finally having the opportunity to escape. While it had been the only thought that had crossed his mind multiple of times, it didn't exactly stay with him enough to make him compelled enough to even attempt it. Docmon had been set on making sure he never got the chance. And yet, here Haru was running alongside Onmon and Aidmon. It had to be irony that the one time they had the chance to escape was when Docmon was occupied with whoever was attacking his facility. But still, it made the situation even more desperate. If Docmon caught them, it would be all over for them.

"Are you sure this passage is safe to take?" Haru heard Onmon call out to Aidmon who was slightly ahead of them.

She turned back towards them with a tight frown and nodded. "Yes, I'm sure it is. The facility here has four main passages linking to the main examination room. This passage we are in is a main one, but it is rarely used since it leads to an emergency exit to the back of the facility. With all the attention drawn to the intruders, I'm quite sure no one will be on this passageway."

Onmon nodded, but it was clear to Haru that he was hesitant to believe Aidmon. There had been quite a few times since they had left the room Onmon had been kept in which Onmon had shown how his trust for Aidmon was very little. He wouldn't allow Aidmon to get too close to Haru whenever she wanted to check how he was doing. And when she tried to speak to Haru, Onmon was quick to interrupt, bringing the conversation away from Haru to himself. Haru was worried about Onmon's behavior and wanted to question why he was acting that way, but somehow, he knew that Onmon wouldn't probably answer. Besides, Aidmon kept continuously sending him glances whenever Onmon was not looking silently pleading for him to not question Onmon. He knew that she thought that she deserved how Onmon was treating her.

"Aidmon, there you are!"

Aidmon's face paled and she and the others turned to where the source of the gruffy voice came from behind them seeing a small Appmon running towards them. The Appmon had the appearance of a dispenser, being bright red in color. The clear sphere on top of its body had white circular pills inside of it. Despite having no eyes, the Appmon was able to wave at Aidmon clearly seeing where she was. It stopped in front of the three and paused to look at Haru and Onmon. The Appmon immediately turned to Aidmon with suspicion.

"Aidmon, the facility is under lockdown. We have unwanted trespassers. Did Docmon tell you to move these two?"

"U-um yes! H-he did." Aidmon stuttered, frantically trying her best to recompose herself. "Docmon wanted to make sure these two would be safe."

"I see…" The Appmon muttered, eyeing both Haru and Onmon again. Haru forced himself to remain still as the Appmon's black sockets were trained on him. Near him, Onmon was doing all he could to remain calm and keep still. But Haru was certain that the longer the Appmon stared at the two, the more likely Onmon would take action. Haru hoped that Aimon would think to something to make the Appmon in front of them go away.

"Why are they not bound? Won't they try to escape?" The Appmon asked, turning back to Aidmon.

"Oh?" Aidmon said. She raised her hand and and placed it on her cheek, feigning forgetfulness. "It seems I must have forgotten to do so in all the hurry. Do not fret Supplemon. These two will not get pass me."

"Hmm, is that so? Then do you mind if I help you get these two to where Docmon wants them to go?"

Aidmon flinched and raised her hands, shaking them both along with her head. "Y-you don't have to do that, Supplemon. I-I can take care of them by myself. But what about you? Did Docmon give you an assignment?"

"He did." Supplemon answered. "It seems like the trespassers got pass the Pipomon Docmon had sent to take care of them. He gave me the order to eliminate them. From what I saw from the security footage, two of the trespassers looked like humans."

"H-humans?" Aidmon yelped in surprise, turning slightly to Haru, who widened his eyes at Supplemon's description. He felt his body grow cold as thoughts began to resound in his head. His friends were here. It couldn't be anyone else. The only humans that could be here were Astra and Eri. They had followed him. He didn't understand how they managed to do so, but he didn't care in the slightest. No, all that mattered now was that Astra and Eri were here to help him. And if they were here, their Appmon had to be here with them. And if so, that meant…

"Gatchmon…" Haru heard himself whisper.

He turned to Aidmon ignoring Onmon's worried glance at him and gazed at Aidmon with a silent plea. She stared at him and frowned, turning back to Supplemon.

"I-I would think that Docmon would jump at the chance to have more humans as his patients. W-why would he want them eliminated?"

"How should I know?!" Supplemon snapped. He took a step forward, pointing his finger at Aidmon with annoyance. "Humans are insignificant creatures that don't deserve half of the things we provide for them. It doesn't matter that Docmon wants these human trespassers eliminated. The less humans there are in this world, the better. Anyway, you've been asking too many questions now. Did something spook you?"

Aidmon shook her head with a solemn expression. "No… I think I'm just happy that I've realized why I can't stay here anymore."

She raised her hands and aimed them at Supplemon as she shouted. "Healing Bandage!"

The bandages wrapped around Aidmon's arms shot out and began to wrap themselves around Supplemon. In surprise at the sudden attack, Supplemon tried to shoot out the large pills out of his body at the bandages, but the bandages were quick to dodge his feeble attempts, soon putting a stop to them. They wrapped around his legs first before continuing to wind around his body methodically until all that remained was a mummified Appmon. Smiling at her work, Aidmon took a step forward, and tugged the mummified Appmon to her.

"Supplemon, my bandages heal wounds, but I wish they could also heal your dark heart. Humans may not deserve us, but we're also not deserving of them. I wish you, as well as so many others, could understand that."

"Aidmon…" Haru said slowly with awe. It was startling to see how much Aidmon had changed. Haru remembered how Aidmon had said that she wouldn't dare disobey Docmon for what he had done for her. He had saved her at a time when she was lost and broken after she had been casted away by humans. And yet, here she was defying Docmon and attacking one of those who she worked along with just to save him and Onmon. Aidmon had no such reason to do any of these things. She had been abandoned by humans when all she wanted to do was help. Haru knew that Aidmon didn't have to help him. He was a human, the same species that hurt her and so many other Appmon. He couldn't blame her if she decided to leave him and Onmon and walk away. After all, he didn't deserve her kindness.

"Mmmpf!" Supplemon said as he made some movement to get up, but with the layer of bandages covering his mouth, his words could not be understood. However, it was still enough for Aidmon to understand what the struggling Appmon was trying to convey.

With a sigh, Aidmon turned to Onmon, who only stood still looking shocked at the scene before him. She giggled at his reaction, secretly relieved that she managed to surprise him.

"Onmon, do you think you can knock Supplemon out? I am an Appmon meant for healing others. I can't lift a hand on others. Not even on this Appmon." She said as she looked back at Supplemon with a sorrowful expression.

Onmon turned to Aidmon, surprised at what she had just requested of him to do. Knocked of his stupor, he turned back to Supplemon and grinned, raising his hands in delight at the idea he could finally release all the energy he had been forced to withhold in his body.

"With pleasure." Onmon answered, taking a step forward to Supplemon, who whimpered in reply. Onmon chuckled at this and allowed the blaster in his hand to glow as energy began to build up in it. As he pointed his hand at Supplemon, he turned back to Aidmon, eyeing her as she stared at Supplemon with downcast eyes. She was definitely not the Appmon Onmon had expected her to be. If anything, she was more than what he could be.

Realizing this, Onmon turned back to Supplemon and narrowed his eyes. He was going to show the bounded Appmon in front of him how much he detested him.

"Switch Spark!" Onmon called out, releasing the built energy from his blaster. The energy formed into a small orb and launched forward making contact with Supplemon's squirming it did, the orb turned into a light golden color and exploded, engulfing Supplemon in a cloud of grey smoke. Once the smoke finally clear, Supplemon laid on the ground unmoving, no longer making anymore sound. Aidmon sighed at the sight of this and quickly unwrapped Supplemon from her bandages, allowing them to go back to her arms. She turned back to Onmon with a small smile and thanked the beaming Appmon for his work.

"Thank you, Onmon, for selflessly taking on my request."

Onmon blinked and quickly shook his head, looking away in embarrassment. "N-no problem! I just couldn't say no."

He paused and sighed, turning back to Aidmon with a frown. "Actually, I should apologize for how I've been acting towards you. You been trying to help us and I have been a jerk to you. I'm sorry."

Aidmon blinked at Onmon's apology and giggled. She walked towards him and outstretched her hands towards him. Confused, Onmon took her hand into his as Aidmon's smile grew wider at his action.

"I accept your apology. I think it was only right for how you acted. After all," Aidmon said, as she turned to Haru. "Haru-kun is a human I would protect in a heartbeat like you have done so far."

Onmon's face immediately turned red and he shook his head, releasing Aidmon's hand from his. "W-what?! Y-you got it all wrong! I just have a debt to pay to him! R-right Haru?"

Haru chuckled at Onmon's reaction and nodded, knowing that Onmon was too embarrassed to tell the truth. They have long since gone past that reason why Onmon was willing to help him and protect him in every dangerous situation they had faced together.

"Of course, Onmon."

At Haru's answer, Aidmon erupted into a fit of giggles. She stopped only after Onmon's face had turned into a dark red color and turned back to Haru as her smile smile became immediately replaced with a small frown.

"Haru-kun, what do you want to do? The exit is not too far from here. If we go back now, we may not get another chance to escape like this."

"I know." Haru said, glancing back at the hall they had come from. "But if my friends are here… If Gatchmon is here…"

He narrowed his eyes, making up his mind, and looked back at Aidmon in determination. "Then I have to find them."

Both Onmon and Aidmon stared at him in silence. Haru fidgeted under their stares, expecting for both of them to scold him. However, they didn't. Instead, Onmon let out a sigh as Aidmon smiled softly. They both nodded at him in approval over his decision.

"Geez, Haru. When we find your friends, I'm going to give this Gatchmon a piece of my mind." Onmon said, taking a step forward to Haru with a large grin. "He needs a reminder of how much trouble you can be."

"But that just makes Haru-kun even more special, Onmon." Aidmon added. She frowned and looked back to the unconscious Supplemon on the ground and turned back to Haru and Onmon with a grim expression.

"We should go then. If your friends are here, we need to find them quickly. Docmon will quickly realize that something is amiss once he finds out you two are not in your rooms."

Haru nodded agreeing with Aidmon. They only had so little time. Docmon didn't know that Aidmon was helping them, but once he found out, Haru was sure he wouldn't rest until he found both him and Onmon. And he was sure that Docmon would punish Aidmon severely for helping them. If they couldn't find his friends soon, it would be over for them.

After Onmon helped Aidmon lock Supplemon in a small storage room that was not too far from the, the three made their way back the the passageway they had came from. As they ran deeper into the poorly illuminated halls, fear began to erupt from Haru's chest. He could feel his heartbeat beginning to thump faster with each step he took as his hands began to feel clammy. There was no mistake that he was afraid. He was afraid of going back deeper into the facility and facing Docmon again. And yet, nothing was more terrifying than the thought of Docmon doing the same thing he had done to him and Onmon to his friends. He couldn't let his friends get hurt by Docmon for him. He couldn't let them face what he had gone through.

The trio continued running through the halls in silence, their breathing being the only sound that echoed throughout the passageways. They turned to a corner that led to three other passageways until Haru felt himself come to a sudden stop. He turned to the hall that was on his right and felt his body grow cold. He did not understand what had stopped him, but something was calling him from the hall to his right. Something familiar...

"Haru-kun?"

Haru blinked, snapped out of his thoughts, and turned to Aidmon and Onmon, who had both stopped. They both looked at him with expressions of worry and made their way to him. Haru immediately tried to reassure to them that he was fine when he felt the familiar feeling spike up from his chest again. He widened his eyes and turned back to the hall as he realized what that strikening emotion was.

Without giving Onmon and Aidmon an explanation, he took off. He ignored their calls for him to stop and continued running, making no effort to stop. The thumping of his heart against his chest and his rapid breathing were the only things that he could make sense of as his thoughts echoed throughout his head. Fear was digging into his skin and the churning of his stomach was tense, but Haru ignored them. He was beyond exhausted, but the familiar feeling was pushing him forward with renewed strength. It was pushing the fear that had clawed itself away into his body. It was pushing him forward to understand what was there that was calling him.

When Haru finally stopped, it was only to allow himself to recompose himself to open the stark wide doors that were shut in front of him. With strength he didn't know he had left, he pushed the talls doors open and took a step forward. What he saw inside what the doors hid made him freeze as his eyes widened in shock at the scene before him.

Coordemon laid unmoving on the white floor, while in the middle of the room Docmon had his foot on top of an Appmon with his syringe pointed forward inches away from the Appmon's neck. It didn't take even for a second for Haru to understand who that Appmon was that laid underneath Docmon. He knew that deviant look the Appmon was giving. He knew it so well. And he was not going to allow Docmon harm him.

"Gatchmon!" Haru cried, launching forward. He watched as Docmon lifted his syringe away from Gatchmon's neck and turned to him in surprise a. Not giving Docmon the chance to react, Haru slammed himself into him, pushing Docmon off of Gatchmon. Pausing to regain his breath, Haru looked over to Gatchmon as the small Appmon stared at him wide-eyed in disbelief.

"Haru..."

Gatchmon slowly stood up and lifted his hand towards Haru until his hand made contact with Haru's hand. As if he finally realized that he was not simply dreaming that Haru was in front of him, Gatchmon smiled and jumped onto Haru's chest burying his face into it. Haru smiled as he felt Gatchmon sob into his chest and wrapped his arms around the teary Appmon. He had missed him. He had missed Gatchmon and was truly happy to finally have found him. He didn't want to let go of his buddy.

"Shinkai Haru, what are you doing out of your cell? Now I have to punish you for your insubordination." Docmon said, bringing both Haru and Gatchmon out of their teary reunion.

Gatchmon lifted his head out of Haru's chest and wiped his tears away as his eyes narrowed at Docmon. He jumped off of Haru landed in front of him as he glared at Docmon.

"I'm not going to let you hurt Haru." Gatchmon seethed.

"Haru!" A familiar voice rang out from entrance Haru had came in. He and the others both turned watching as both Onmon and Aidmon ran in. Upon seeing Docmon, Aidmon immediately froze with fear and placed herself partly behind Onmon. Docmon laughed at her action and smirked understanding what was going on.

"Oh I see. So you have betrayed me, is that it, Aidmon? You have decided to turn your back on the one who had took you in when you had been turned away from humans. How treacherous of you to turn your back on me and side with Minerva's followers."

Aidmon said nothing and tried to hide herself further behind Onmon. Noticing how much she was shaking in fright, Onmon narrowed his eyes and turned back at Docmon with anger.

"Aidmon made the right choice! You didn't save her! You've used her to hurt others! And I'm going to make sure that you never have the chance to do the same to others!"

"Hmm, is that so?" Docmon questioned. He smiled menacingly and walked over to Coordemon, who still laid unconscious on the ground. He brought a syringe towards her head and looked back to Onmon, who was now glaring at him, livid with anger.

"I'll give you a choice then. I'll let this Appmon go unharm if you relinquish Shinkai Haru to me. He is all I want. I'll let you all go free if he gives himself up."

"I have a better idea." Onmon asserted holding his hand up. "Switch Spark!"

Docmon widened his eyes as the small glowing orb was launched from the blaster in Onmon's hand. He released Aidmon as the orb of energy came into contact with him, creating a small explosion that pushed him back. Wasting no time, Onmon moved and ran forward to Coordemon's still body placing himself in front of her with his arm raised once again at Docmon. Docmon clenched his teeth and stood back up in silence, clearly livid with fury that his plan had failed.

"Haru," Onmon called out, not taking his eyes off of Docmon. "You have other friends here, right? Go look for them! I'll take care of this Appmon!"

"Wait, Onmon!" Haru shouted. "You can't do that!"

"I know I'm weak." Onmon said quietly, understanding what Haru was trying to convey. "But I have a bone to pick with this Appmon for the harm he has done to us! Switch Spark!"

Onmon released another orb of swirling energy from his blaster at Docmon. This time, Docmon moved from the attack and moved forward, with his syringes raised. Remembering their fight from last time, Onmon wasted no time to run forward and hit one of the syringes with his hands. Surprised at Onmon's action, Docmon smirked in humor and whacked Onmon with his other syringe sending the small Appmon to the side. Onmon gritted his teeth in pain from the attack and stood back up, facing Docmon once more.

Haru watched in horror as Onmon continued to face Docmon, getting hit each time, only to stand up once again. He felt himself clench his hands into fists in frustration. He wanted to help Onmon, but there was nothing he could do to help him. He didn't have his Appli Drive nor Logimon's Appmon chip. And he was only a human. As frustrating as it was, he was weak in comparison to Docmon. If he jumped in now, he would would only cause Onmon to get hurt more from protecting him from Docmon's attacks.

"Haru."

Haru blinked, snapped out of his thoughts and turned to the source of the voice, finding Gatchmon gazing at him with a pained expression. He reached to his helmet and placed his hand underneath it taking out a familiar device Haru had remembered giving to Tutomon along with his Appli Band and Logimon's Chip. Slowly, Gatchmon held the items out to Haru as he looked towards the ground.

"You should have these back. I know I'm not your buddy anymore, but I still wanted to find you. I… I'm sorry… None of this wouldn't happen if I had just payed attention better..."

"Gatchmon…" Haru gritted his teeth and kneeled down, wrapping his arms around Gatchmon shoulders and pulling the Appmon to him. He felt Gatchmon flinch in shock at the hug as Haru gently wrapped his arms tighter around the Appmon.

"You'll always be my buddy, Gatchmon." Haru said, quietly. "It wasn't your fault for what happened. I don't blame you for it. So please, let's fight together once more."

"Haru…" Gatchmon said. He smiled and pushed himself further into Haru's chest. It didn't matter what the Appli Drive said, Haru would always be his buddy.

It was after that thought the Appli Drive in his hand began to glow brightly. Both Gatchmon and Haru jumped back in surprise as the Appli Drive pulsated with color. The words 'Pairing Onmon' began to flicker back to 'Pairing Gatchmon' and back to what it was initially in a cycle, until the Appli Drive suddenly burst into a bright light, blinding everyone in the room. When the light finally settled down, Haru opened his eyes to find his Appli Drive glowing brighter than ever before with now two distinct symbols on the top and bottom of the cover. He stared at it in shock until his eyes lowered to the words that glowed brightly on the bottom screen.

It now said pairing Gatchmon and Onmon.

"Haru… We're…" Gatchmon stuttered as he stared at the Appli Drive in shock. He turned to Haru with a large grin and looked over to the where Onmon was still fighting Docmon with determination. He smiled with renewed confidence and took a step forward.

"Ready buddy!?"

Haru looked up from his Appli Drive at Gatchmon and smiled. He tied his Appli Band over his wrist and took an Appmon Chip from it and looked back to Gatchmon. He could fight now. He wasn't alone. Gatchmon and Onmon were there by his side. He could finally fight together with them.

"Let's do this together, Gatchmon! Onmon!"

He slid the circular cover of his Appli Drive down and placed the two Appmon chips he now held inside of it, allowing the cover to slide back up. As the Appli Drive began to glow brightly in color as a familiar voice rang out from it, Haru found all his attention drawn onto both Gatchmon and Onmon. He watched as they began to change, smiling as they grew taller and bigger and turned to Docmon with a determined expression. He was powerless as a human, but together, the bonds he had with Gatchmon and Onmon allowed them to reach new heights. And now, they were going to show Docmon what that bond meant for them.

It was time for them to fight.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: I'm so happy that its finally Spring Break for me. As a final thank you to everyone for reading this story, I'm updating this chapter and the last chapter today. Again, thank you so much!**

 **trashyistrash: Aww thank you for checking daily and I apologize for the long wait. And sorry, Dogatchmon won't be appearing. I've done some research and I've realized that the Super Appmon chips are used into the process to make the Ultimate Appmon chips, which explains why in the anime, Haru and the others appliarise their Appmon into Ultimate when they didn't have to. Its because they no longer have the Super Appmon chips to use. And yep, goodbye Docmon.**

* * *

 **Chapter 19**

There were many things that Setmon was suspicious about the moment he and the others were able to find their way to the room that monitored the facility's security. Of course they had been attacked by Appmon that they encountered in the halls, but it was not enough that posed a serious threat for them. Given the situation, Setmon had suspected that there would be a lot more Appmon trying to put a stop to them. And yet, there wasn't. Setmon had a feeling that if there wasn't that many Appmon trying to stop them, then the room that monitored the facility's security was likely prepared for them.

"S-Setmon, is this the place?" Setmon heard Tutomon stuttered, out of breath near him.

Setmon turned towards the door Tutomon had called his attention to and nodded towards the small Appmon. Yes, the door they were now standing in front of was the room he had memorized from the facility's blueprint he had found months earlier. It had been difficult to find a copy of a document that showed the design of Docmon's facility without alarming the firewall of the facility's system, but it was not impossible to do. Setmon just never assumed he would be using this information he had memorized from so long ago. He had only looked into the information to learn about the architecture and layout of Docmon's facility after hearing stories of how it came to be. It was only because of this pure desire of knowledge that allowed him to play a part in this daring mission. But he had no idea how long that would last.

"Everyone, please take a step back. I do think this where it might get difficult." Setmon warned to his companions, watching as they listened and moved away from the door.

Once they were distance away from the door that was deemable to Setmon, Setmon got right to work. He moved towards the small rectangular keypad by the door and carefully eased its cover off, revealing the matrix of circuits and wires beneath it. Without haste, he pressed switches and realigned wires until the door dinged in response to his manipulation of the lock. Once it did, Setmon carefully placed the keypad's cover back on it, slightly proud of his hasty, yet careful rewirement of the electronic lock. He looked back to his companions, who all stared back at him with fearful, yet determined expressions. Even if he did try to warn them about his suspicions, Setmon knew they wouldn't be slightly deterred away. Not when there were many things on the line that they had to do. It was to be expected.

"Whatever lies behind this door is waiting for us." Setmon decided to say as he turned away from the others and back to the door. He lifted his arm towards the door and pressed the key that would open the door.

"Be careful."

As soon as the door opened, a sharp ringing sound erupted from inside the room followed by silence. Cationally, Setmon entered the room followed by the others as he glanced around. The room they were now in was large and circular, despite being only a room that monitored security. There were many highly complex computers in it that laid by the walls that beeped with each second as tv screens flashed above them on the walls with images of rooms in the facility. Setmon paid no attention to what the images detailed until his sight fell onto one lit screen showing a particular room. A room that showed Coordemon unconscious and Gatchmon laying near her with an Appmon towering above him, most likely to be Docmon himself. Setmon barely heard the others behind him gasping at the sight when they realized what he was looking at. He ignored them, not wanting to waste anymore time and instead made his way to the largest equipment that stood at the end of the room. There were short on time as it was and given the grave situation he had just witnessed on the small screen, they had to act quick for Coordemon and Gatchmon's sake.

"Tutomon! Help me override the system here! We must break into the firewall and shut-"

Before Setmon could finish, a wave of flames erupted from his left heading directly towards him. Setmon barely managed to move away from them in time and watched as they devoured a small computer near him. Setmon stared at the computer as it crackled and popped under the intense heat of the flame and turned over the where the source of the flame came from. He was not too surprised to find an Appmon glaring at him with one of his arms outstretched holding a wall-like shield aimed at him. The Appmon had the appearance of a knight, which Setmon could easily tell that the Appmon took the role to the fullest. If he was knight, if meant he had the job of protecting something important, which probably happened to be the firewall Setmon wanted to break through.

"You will no longer go such further. Turn around and leave before you get burned by my flames of justice!"

Setmon stared at the Appmon in silence wondering if this was a joke as he heard both Musimon and Astra chuckled at the Appmon's words. He had a feeling that the Appmon probably will not take this reaction in a positive manner. And true to his guess, upon hearing their laugh, the Appmon sent a dark glare at the two, immediately shutting them up. Setmon watched this and sighed. They had to be careful and be cautious with their next step. The Appmon in front of them had a headstrong attitude.

"I am Protecmon and I am the protector of this sacred room. Now who are you and why have you decided to come in here, this fortitude of security I protect?"

"We have come in here to look at this facility's firewall and strengthen it." Setmon spoke in a disinterested tone. "Docmon gave us the order. Were you not informed of this?"

Protecmon lowered his arm in confusion. "Well no, I was not informed. When did he gave you the order to come in here?"

"Just now actually." Setmon answered. "Some trespassers happened to escape the trap Docmon had set for them and are making their way around their facility as we speak. Docmon saw it as a seer sign that in order to stop them, we must strengthened the mechanisms that controls the security of this facility and strengthened them to eliminate the trespassers."

Protecmon narrowed his arms and finally brought his arm to his side. "I see…" He paused and looked over to the human companions that stood silently near Setmon.

"Then who are those two? They're humans, right? Humans are not welcomed here."

"Yes they are humans, but Docmon has given them permission to be here. They are loyal followers of Leviathan, working to make his goals a reality." Setmon replied, hoping that Protecmon will not see through his words. They were wasting time and needed to disrupt the firewall now before it was too late.

Protecmon blinked before letting out a loud gruff chuckle. "If you think I am too simple minded, then you are far mistaken. Even if they are loyal followers of Leviathan, I wouldn't dare let their filthy hands touch anything here. Humans are beneath Appmon and it's my sworn duty to make sure that stands! Now begone before I burn you all to ashes!"

Setmon sighed, slightly annoyed that they weren't able to settle the matter in a peaceful way and turned over to his companions, eyeing them with approval to fight. He watched as Eri and Astra both took their Appli Drives out of their pocket, while both Dokamon and Musimon got into position to carry out their attacks. Even Tutomon, who was slightly shaking, prepared to join in. They were all willing to give their all. And it was interesting to Setmon. Humans and Appmon were never seen as equals as Leviathan taught to them. And yet, here they were, getting to ready to fight for the same common goal. He was in awe of it.

Setmon didn't need to give his companions the order to attack. They all took off towards Protecmon sending him attacks that the Appmon readily defended with his arms. But that didn't stop them. No, it made Musimon, Dokamon, and Tutomon attack even more. As the three continued to send barrages of attacks at the heavily armored Appmon, Setmon made his way towards Astra and Eri, who were both shouting words of encouragement at their Appmon. If they were going to get out of this, he needed to know what they were capable of.

"You two!" Setmon shouted, getting their attention. "Please tell me what your Appli Drives can do for your partners. While their courage is beyond helpful in this battle, I fear it is not enough to win this fight against Protecmon with the time we have."

Eri turned towards Astra, frowning at him slightly and turned back to Setmon. "Our Appli Drives can help our Appmon evolve, but…"

"It is only for a minute." Astra finished.

Setmon turned back at the current fight taking note of how Protecmon kept blocking each attack, never making any movement to dodge them as he shot waves of fires to intercept any movement he deemed threatening. He was like an iron wall. A wall that blocked them from their target. It was clear that this iron wall couldn't be beaten at their current level. They needed to evolve to bigger heights. And only Astra and Eri could make that possible with the devices they held in their hands.

"Do it." Setmon spoke, not making movement to turn back to catch Astra and Eri's expressions of surprise. Instead, he walked forward to a small computer near him and began to look at its circuitry, taking every detail in about what wires it connected to and the mechanisms behind the circuitry that could make it useful for. He was just an Appmon that configured equipment, but he could do much more with that. And if he couldn't get to the firewall in the direct way, then he would just have to take the longer way to get to it. He needed to shut this facility down.

"But this room is too small for Oujamon and Entermon!" Eri exclaimed. She took a step forward, but Setmon's sharp voice, stopped her in her movement.

"We do not have to think about that! For my and your friend's sake, we must push away those irrelevant thoughts and focus on the task on hand. I have my part to play and now I ask for you two to do what you must. Grant your partners the power to stop Protecmon!"

Both Eri and Astra flinched at Setmon's tone, but they understood that he was right. They had to evolve their partners. Even if there was a time limit and even if the room was small, they had to ignore all those barriers and push on through. They needed to fight and bring the iron wall down with their power.

"Dokamon!" Eri shouted, holding out her Appli Drive with Oujamon's chip in her other hand.

"Musimon!" Astra shouted, holding his Appli Drive out as well with Entermon's chip in his other hand.

Setmon looked back at the and watched in awe as they slid their Appli Drive's covers down and inserted their Appmon chips in. He watched as the two devices glowed and a brilliant ray of light shot out of them at their respective partners. He was in awe of it. He had always assumed that nothing could stop Leviathan. When the persuasive AI had first appeared, it seemed like nothing or no one for that matter could stand up to it. But seeing the awe-inspiring light that made Eri and Astra's partner grow larger in size and different in appearance, it seemed to chase away those pre-determined ill thoughts. Leviathan was strong, but the ones standing before him could be enough to change things for the greater good. Things needed to change. Not the kind of change Leviathan made possible. No, it needed to change in the manner that man and artificial intelligence could stand to understand each other. That was the only way that things could move forward. Haru, Astra, and Eri could make that possible. Minerva chose them and deemed them suitable for the task. And like how he saw potential in Haru, he saw the same potential in both Eri and Astra. He could put his trust in them.

Chuckling at this, Setmon turned back to his work. He didn't have to look at the battle to know what direction it was going now. Judging by the sounds he was hearing, he knew what side it faring to. He continued to keep at his work, realigning wires and disconnecting others, memorizing each small detail of the circuitry and its structure, processing it as a complex computer system. It wasn't until he reconnected a last wire and began to enter digital coding into the computer that he realized that something was missing to overwhelm the firewall. Only one Appmon could fill that role.

"Tutomon!" Setmon turned, getting the small Appmon's attention from the fight between the two large Appmon and the iron wall. He turned towards Setmon with an alarmed expression as he fidgeted under the pressure of Setmon's gaze.

"Y-yes Setmon?"

"Help me break this final wall! I need you to attack this circuitry!"

"Y-yes sir!" Tutomon squeaked racing forward towards Setmon side. Not wasting even any time, the small Appmon called out his attack at the area Setmon gestured at, shaking as the fight behind him grew louder.

"Finger pointer!" Tutomon shouted, wagging his finger from the left and right. He didn't understood what good his attack would do, given how all his did was direct someone's attention onto him.

Tutomon was surprised to see how currents of electricity bounced from the wires in the surrounding equipment and moved towards him and the small equipment he pointed at. He watched wide-eyed as the electricity wrapped around the small piece of equipment and began to burn it under the intense heat. It was frightening to see.

"N-no! What are you doing!" A voice screamed from behind Setmon and Tutomon.

They both turned to see Protecmon lying on the ground covered by debris from the ceiling. Near him stood Musimon and Dokamon exhausted, but still raring to fight room was now a mess with many debris and wrecked machines laying around the floor. Setmon couldn't help but think it was a waste of such potential equipment, but it was even more of a waste to see Protecmon trying to stand up once more for something that was no longer possible to protect.

"Stop! Don't tamper with my fortress! Keep your hands off of it!"

Setmon paid no attention towards the struggling Appmon and made his way over to the computer that was near the equipment. He typed a few words into the glowing keyboard until glowing green words appeared on the screen asking for confirmation for what he wanted. Once he indeed confirmed yes, the screen turned black and the lights turned dim.

"No! My firewall! Y-You-ve taken it down…"

"And now Docmon can not use this facility no longer." Setmon finished.

"I don't get it? Why did we need to take the firewall down?" Astra asked.

"Oh yes, the firewall was what safeguarded those from getting access to the system. Think of it as a barrier that doesn't allow one to access information. In this case, the firewall is what allowed those to have access controls to this facility. And now that I have broken it, I have reconfigured it for our purposes."

"You mean that Docmon no longer has control to this facility?" Musimon asked.

"Indeed. I have done extensive reach concerning this facility and the kind of control Docmon has with it has allowed him to do what he wants to others. Now that privilege has been taken away from him, it will be easier to move around here as well as help those find freedom."

With those words, Setmon typed into some words into the computer and pressed a small red button near him. The computer ringed with a low pitch sound and lit up. Chuckling in satisfaction at his work, Setmon turned towards the screens around them, watching as they showed doors swinging open in the halls as Appmon stepped out of them. They looked around in confusion as the lit bracelets that were visible on them stopped glowing. It took a second until the Appmon on the screens realized what was happening and erupted in cheers. They were free.

"W-what have you done…" Protecmon said slowly, his eyes trailing on the screens, staring at the now free Appmon as they began to take off in the halls.

"I have done what is right." Setmon answered. "Something that I hope you will realize to do in the near future."

Protecmon said nothing and only continued looking at the screens. Setmon sighed at the Appmon's behavior and took a step forward, ready to say more, when Eri's voice stopped him from continuing.

"Haru…"

Setmon turned to her, surprised to see her looking at a screen with her hands covering her mouth as tears began to appear in her eyes. Near her, Astra looked shaken as if he was having difficulty to believe what he was seeing. Their Appmon looked just as shakened as their partners, although their reactions were less distressing. Wondering what was causing everyone's reactions, Setmon moved towards the screen they were all staring at and looked up.

On the screen showed shaky footage of Haru holding his Appli Drive out as a holographic timer above the device was counting down. The footage caught bits of a large and a medium sized Appmon Setmon had never seen moving quickly around the room as they fought Docmon. It was clear by what was showing on the screen that somehow, Haru had found his way to the room Docmon, Coordemon, and Gatchmon were in and had made Gatchmon evolve with his device. And although he didn't recognize the second Appmon that was fighting, he knew it had to be Onmon. The symbol that was on the Appmon's forehead was too familiar. Haru was fighting with Gatchmon and Onmon.

"Astra, we have to go there!" Eri spoke, turning towards Astra with a bright smile. She pressed a small button on her Appli Band and it beeped, showing a small red dot that glowed brightly. She showed it to Astra, who nodded in reply and together, they took off out of the room as their partners followed them out. Setmon tried to call out for them to wait, but knew they were too impatient to listen. When he could no longer hear their footsteps, the Appmon sighed and turned towards Tutomon, who was still watching the screen of Haru and his partners with wide eyes. Setmon chuckled heartily at this and told the small Appmon to follow him. His job was done, but they still had to see this through. It was finally time to see the boy that Minerva trusted the future with.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Welcome to the last chapter of this story! It was a long ride and I'm happy to know I was able to see it through fully! A huge thank you to everyone that reviewed, followed, and favorited this story. Your encouragement gave me the motivation to finish this story and continue with a sequel! Recoded Data will hopefully be posted with its first chapter sometime this weekend. This sequel will pick up from this story and will follow through the rest of the anime with significant changes. Of course, if you guys have any ideas on what you would like to see explored, shoot me an email. I will be happy to see what you have in mind. Again, thank you and enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 20**

"Logi Plasma!"

"Schwert Cutter!"

Haru felt the wind come rushing in as a powerful gust from the full force of the attacks that rocked his body back and forth. Barely managing to regain his balance, he looked back up to see Logimon dodging a spiral of green liquid as Globemon rushed in and tried to slash at Docmon with the glowing blue blades mounted on his wrist. Docmon easily dodged each blade and moved away, shooting the liquids from his syringes at Globemon. Before they could make contact with the Ultimate Appmon, they were quickly disintegrated by a ray of blue light that came from the palm of Logimon's hand. Smirking, Logimon moved forward and kicked Docmon towards the wall as Globemon moved forward.

Haru watched as the two worked together and frowned, looking back at the glowing holographic timer that was counting down too quickly. Globemon only had thirty seconds before he would revert back to Gatchmon and yet, he and Logimon had yet to defeat Docmon. Each attack they made against Docmon was quickly dodged or easily countered with the liquid in his syringes. Haru had expected the battle to not last as it had so far, but Docmon was proving that he still had the upper hand.

"Madness Syringe!" Docmon shouted gaining Haru's attention as he looked back up, seeing the Appmon laugh crazily as he shot a barrage of liquid from his syringes at Globemon and Logimon.

Both Appmon easily dodged the attacks and stopped after the wave of shooting liquid ceased. They paused to look down at Haru, catching his noticeable expression of worry. Globemon, in particular, caught sight of the time he had left. If they were going to end things with the mad doctor Appmon in front of them, they needed to do it now.

"Logimon." Globemon said, looking back up at Docmon, as Logimon turned towards him. "I will stop Docmon from moving. When that happens, give him the final blow."

Logimon smirked. "Right."

Together, they both rushed forward catching Docmon off guard for a split second. He easily regained his composure and sent spirals of purple and green liquid at the two, aiming to slow them down. What he didn't expect and was too slow to see was Logimon disappearing from his line of sight as he felt the heard the familiar swarming energy being shot at him from every direction behind him. Docmon was forced to lower his syringes and dodge every attack that was sent to him until he realized that he had been tricked. He turned to counter the Ultimate Appmon that he knew was surey behind him only to freeze upon seeing Globemon close to him with his hands raised as bright blue energy began to form from his chest.

Haru gripped his Appli Drive tightly in his hand as he stared at the now cornered Docmon. He watched as Globemon made direct contact with his gaze before looking back at Docmon again. Even though it was only for a split second, Haru knew what Globemon was trying to convey with his gaze. He understood that this fight meant more than anything to Globemon. It was his way of apologizing to Haru for the mistakes he had made.

And yet, what Globemon didn't know was that the fight also meant just as much to Haru.

This was their first battle together since becoming separated. Like how he had saw and experienced so much, Haru was just as sure it was the same for Globemon. But against all odds, they had found each other again. And Haru didn't want to ever lose their now rekindled bond.

This thought of their now established partnership sent warmth throughout Haru's body. He could vaguely hear the last ten seconds that were beginning to count down on the ticking timer above his Appli Drive. No, all that he focus on was the thoughts that he could hear reverberating in his head that he could hear Globemon also say.

They needed to put an end to this battle.

"Docmon," Both Haru and Globemon said in unison, not realizing they were voicing their thoughts in sync. "For what you have done, we will make sure you pay. Glanz Gazer!"

Globemon fired the beam of energy from his chest directly at Docmon. Docmon immediately tried to move away from the incoming attack, but was too slow to completely dodge the attack. He screamed as the beam of energy struck him, enveloping him in bright blue light. When the light finally died, Docmon was seen still barely being able to stand with his syringe raised. Before he could do anything, Logimon made his move.

"Kreis Tornado!" Logimon called out, shooting a swirl of blue energy from his palms that quickly into a tornado. The blue tornado made its way to Docmon and quickly devoured him sending him out hurling towards the wall. Docmon hit it full force and fell onto the ground leaving behind a large indent on the wall from where he had hit. Haru had expected for Docmon to get back up and continue attacking, but he made no movement to get back up. He continued to lay still on the ground, a sign that maybe the Appmon was really unconscious.

"Haru!"

Haru blinked as he a small body land on his shoulder and snuggle close to his neck. He smiled warmly as Gatchmon moved away from his shoulder to his chest and looked directly into his eyes with a large grin on his face.

"We did it, Haru!"

Haru laughed as he nodded at the small Appmon, holding him even closer to his chest. He didn't want to let go of Gatchmon. Somehow, he had felt the small Appmon's emotions during the fight. He had no idea how that was possible, but he had seen what Globemon seen and felt what he had felt putting his all into his final attack. It had felt like they had become one.

It may had been a moment that had only lasted for a split second, but Haru knew there was more what he had seen and felt. If this was only the beginning of their now established partnership, Haru was excited to understand more of what was to come. And now that he had Onmon as well as Gatchmon, Haru was sure that their strength will grow just as much as their bonds. He was sure that their connections with each other will lead them to further heights.

"So… You're Gatchmon right?" A voice said behind both Haru and Gatchmon.

The two both turned to see Onmon looking directly at them with his arms crossed. Gatchmon narrowed his eyes on the Appmon and jumped off of Haru landing in front of Onmon. Silently, Gatchmon nodded as his attention remained transfixed on the Appmon that looked just like him. Even though they looked just about the same in appearance, he could tell that there were many differences between them. But even so, it was odd seeing an Appmon that was not too far different from him inappearance.

"Well, it's about time you've showed up. Haru has been a handful. He had been the most complicated human I've ever met." Onmon spoke, grinning as he looked over to Haru and nodded at him in approval.

Gatchmon blinked, surprised at Onmon's remark, and laughed. "Sorry that I took so long. You're Onmon, right? Thanks for taking care of Haru. I owe you one. Although I think we'll be working together a lot more now, I suppose…"

"Yeah…" Onmon said, slowly. He opened his mouth to say more, but was cut off from a voice that he and Gatchmon had thought they silenced for good.

"How disgusting…"

Both Gatchmon and Onmon narrowed their eyes and they quickly got in front of Haru with their arms raised, ready to defend. They glared at Docmon as he slowly raised himself up from the ground and looked at them, his razor teeth becoming noticeable in his wide crazed smile. He laughed as he got onto his legs and inched forward to them, slow and halting. The way Docmon's smile turned into twisted, malevolent grin sent shivers to the three as if he was preparing to go in for the kill.

"Y-you've lost, Docmon!" Onmon tried to say, but he could not mask the fear that could be heard in his voice. The Appmon that they had battled was not like this Appmon in front of them. He had changed and now was even more threatening.

"If you think I will let you two get away for humiliating me, then you are sadly mistaken." Docmon breathed, his teeth glinting in a menacing way as he laughed crazily.

"I am the one who shall win! I will bring the human right next to you back to Biomon and be graciously presented with the right to conduct operations on all humans! It will be me who wins this game! And it will be you two will shall lose! Now bow down-"

Before Docmon could finish his statement, a pink arrow suddenly appeared from the side, hitting him in the chest and propelling him backward. In confusion, Docmon stared at the arrow lodged in his chest in silence before letting out a light chuckle.

"How pathetic…"

Light began to envelop Docmon as he disappeared in a white cloud of smoke. When the smoke finally cleared, all that could be seen lying on the ground was a small Appmon chip. It was clear to Haru what that Appmon chip was and who it belonged. Docmon had finally been beaten for good.

"Coordemon!" Onmon shouted, suddenly taking off from Haru's side.

Haru turned and watched as Onmon ran to Coordemon, who was now up and breathing heavily with Aidmon by her side helping her and giving her support. Onmon stopped once he was near enough and kneeled down to as he eyed her with worry present in his gaze. Coordemon smiled at this and raised her hand at Onmon. Thinking that she wanted him to take her hand, Onmon reached forward, only to be knocked harshly on the head by Coordemon's hand.

"Ow! What was that for?!" He exclaimed, clutching his head in slight pain from the blunt hit to it.

"For making me worry!" She yelled. "I told you to stay at the Kindergarten with Haru and now look at what you two got yourselves into!"

Onmon glanced down, ashamed of himself. Coordemon was right. If he had just stayed at the Kindergarten with Haru, then they wouldn't had gotten themselves into all the trouble they had encountered. It was his job to protect Haru, but all he had done was steer them both into getting captured by Docmon. He really was a lousy Appmon to be a partnered with.

"Coordemon, it was my fault too. Please don't get mad at Onmon. We both should share the blame."

Onmon blinked and looked back up seeing Haru was now next to him, gazing deeply at Coordemon. Coordemon sighed at Haru's determined expression and turned back towards Onmon with a smile that sends unexpected warmth rushing through Onmon's body. He felt his cheeks warm up as he tried to turn away, no longer being able to continue to look at Coordemon. The way her lips curled into a smile was too much for him to gaze at.

"You did great, Onmon. Thank you."

Onmon chuckled, a bit embarrassed and looked back to Haru, nodding at him with a silent grateful thank you. Haru felt his mouth curved into a large smile at Onmon's gratitude and raised his Appli Drive, finding all his attention drawn to it. He was now paired both to Onmon and Gatchmon as partners. Both of whom he couldn't ever think of losing. They were both just as important now to him. And through their faults, he would also take the blame for them. As their buddy, he would be a better partner for both of them.

"Haru!"

Haru snapped out of his thoughts as he turned, seeing a familiar pinked haired girl run inside the room, heading towards him followed by a familiar small boy with bright green eyes. He vaguely heard his heart thump rapidly inside his chest as the two crashed into him, wrapping him a tight hug. And he vaguely heard them asked him questions that were full of emotion. All he could see was the large smiles that were present on both Gatchmon and Onmon's faces. He had been lost, but he had found his way back to his friends.

And now, he could finally go home.

* * *

"Were you able to collect the human?" A commanding male voice echoed in a large dark room.

"No, I could not. But I assure you I have already punished the one who had let him him escape with the proper operation. One I'm sure he will never forget." A second voice remarked, erupting into a loud laugh right after his statement.

"How sad. I wanted to see how beautiful this human is and see if he was in need of collagen shots before being presented to Leviathan." A third voice said, this time female.

"Forget that! He needs to be broken! Humans are easily fooled, but this human is different! I still can't forget that damn look he gave me when I tried to break him! He ruined my entertainment!" A fourth voice spoke out, with anger noticeable in his voice.

"Fakemon," The first voice called out, getting the angered Appmon's attention. "You failed. You should consider yourself lucky that Leviathan did not strip you of your status as a general. However, do not think that just because you have failed does mean you have the right to speak what you want. You are incompetent to be considered as a general before us."

"Y-yes Charismon…" The Appmon said bitterly, looking away.

Just as he did, a blaring red L symbol appeared behind Charismon, alerting the four. They turned towards the symbol and kneeled down, bowing to the red symbol. They watched as the symbol changed into words that the four read silently. When the words disappeared and the symbol reappeared, Charismon placed his fist over his chest with amusement present in his eyes over the new mission that had just been assigned to them.

"As you wish Leviathan." He said, staring attentively at the blaring red symbol. "We will work with the human you have appointed and move forward with the next step in your plan. We will eliminate the Appli Drivers and their Buddy Appmon and bring Shinkai Haru back to you."


End file.
